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IC 9060 



Bureau of Mines Information Circular/ 1985 




Fluorspar Availability— Market 
Economy Countries and China 

A Minerals Availability Appraisal 



By Catherine C. Kilgore, Sandra R. Kraemer, 
and James A. Bekkala 




UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 



Information Circular 9060 



Fluorspar Availability— Market 
Economy Countries and China 

A Minerals Availability Appraisal 



By Catherine C. Kilgore, Sandra R. Kraemer, 
and James A. Bekkala 




UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 
Donald Paul Model, Secretary 

BUREAU OF MINES 
Robert C. Horton, Director 







no.WloD 



As the Nation's principal conservation agency, the Department of the Interior has 
responsibility for most of our nationally owned public lands and natural resources. 
This includes fostering the wisest use of our land and water resources, protecting our 
fish and wildlife, preserving the environment and cultural values of our national parks 
and historical places, and providing for the enjoyment of life through outdoor recreation. 
The Department assesses our energy and mineral resources and works to assure that 
their development is in the best interests of all our people. The Department also has 
a major responsibility for American Indian reservation communities and for people 
who live in island territories under U.S. administration. 



Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data: 



Kilgore, Catherine C. 

Fluorspar availability — market economy countries and China 

(Bureau of Mines information circular ; 9060) 

Bibliography: p. 57 

Supt. of Docs, no.: I 28.27:9060. 

i. Fluorspar. I. Kraemer, Sandra R. II. Bekkala, James A. III. United States. 
Bureau of Mines. IV. Tide. V. Series: Information circular(L'nited States. Bureau of Mines) 
^FN29*4h1 TN948.F6 622 s 553'. 95 85 000113 




PREFACE 



The Bureau of Mines is assessing the worldwide availability of nonfuel minerals. It 
identifies, collects, compiles, and evaluates information on active and developing mines, 
explored deposits, and mineral processing plants worldwide. Objectives are to classify 
domestic and foreign resources; to identify, by cost evaluation, resources that are reserves; 
and to prepare analyses of mineral availabilities. 

This report is part of a continuing series of reports that analyze the availability of 
minerals from domestic and foreign sources and the factors affecting availability. Ques- 
tions about these reports should be addressed to Chief, Division of Minerals Availability, 
Bureau of Mines, 2401 E St., N.W., Washington, DC 20241. 



vJL 



CONTENTS 



Page 

Preface iii 

Abstract 1 

Introduction 2 

Acknowledgments 2 

Methodology 2 

Fluorspar industry 4 

Grades and usage 4 

U.S. import duties 5 

World fluorspar prices 5 

Ownership 7 

Country overviews and historic perspective of fluorspar 

production 8 

Africa 8 

Kenya 8 

Morocco 8 

Namibia 8 

Republic of South Africa 9 

Tunisia 10 

Asia 10 

China 10 

Thailand 11 

Europe 12 

Federal Republic of Germany 12 

France 12 

Italy 13 

Spain 13 

United Kingdom 13 



Page 

North America 14 

Canada 14 

Mexico 14 

United States 14 

General geology 16 

World fluorspar reserves and resources 17 

Primary fluorspar 17 

Fluorine from phosphate 21 

Mining methods 21 

Beneficiation 21 

Transportation 21 

Weighted-average total cost of production 22 

Cost comparisons, by country 23 

Foreign currency exchange rates impact costs 

in U.S. dollar terms 24 

Factors affecting worldwide fluorspar availability . 24 

Fluorspar production capacity 25 

Total availability of fluorspar 25 

Price proportions 25 

Acid-grade fluorspar 26 

Metallurgical-grade fluorspar 26 

Ceramic-grade fluorspar 30 

Summary 30 

References 31 

Appendix A -Fluorspar properties 33 

Appendix B- Geology, mining, infrastructure, and 

transportation, by country 35 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Page 

1. Acid- and metallurgical -grade fluorspar price comparisons, f.o.b. port 6 

2. Acid-grade price comparisons, 1979-84, f.o.b. port 6 

3. Demonstrated ore resources, by ownership-type, 1984 7 

4. African fluorspar properties 9 

5. Fluorspar operations in China 10 

6. Fluorspar mines and mills located in Thailand 11 

7. European fluorspar operations 12 

8. Fluorspar operations in Mexico 14 

9. Fluorspar properties in the Eastern United States 15 

10. Fluorspar properties in the Western United States 15 

11. World fluorspar resources for MEC's and CPEC's 20 

12. Comparison of in situ demonstrated ore and contained CaF 2 for 56 properties 20 

13. Fluorspar production costs, weighted-average for all grades of fluorspar, 0-pct DCFROR 22 

14. Breakeven weighted-average total cost of production for all grades of fluorspar, by country 23 

15. Weighted-average total cost and availability of fluorspar from 56 properties, 0-pct DCFROR 26 

16. Cost and total availability of acid-grade fluorspar at 0-pct and 15-pct DCFROR 26 

17. Cost and annual availability of acid-grade fluorspar through the year 2000 27 

18. Cost and total availability of metallurgical-grade fluorspar at 0-pct and 15-pct DCFROR 28 

19. Cost and annual availability of metallurgical-grade fluorspar through the year 2000 28 

20. Cost and total availability of ceramic-grade fluorspar at 0-pct and 15-pct DCFROR 29 

21. Cost and annual availability of ceramic-grade fluorspar through the year 2000 29 

B-l. Locations of fluorspar deposits in the Morvan District, France 44 



TABLES 

Page 

1. Fluorspar properties and associated production status, mining and beneficiation methods, and products 

recovered 3 

2. Byproduct prices used in economic evaluations 4 

3. Fluorspar grades and 1984 market prices 5 

4. Number of properties held by ownership type, and availability of fluorspar for export, by country 7 

5. Annual production of fluorspar, 1979-83 8 

6. Annual production of fluorspar for evaluated countries and the world, 1979-83 9 

7. Annual production at Buffalo fluorspar mine, 1977-83 10 

8. Annual U.S. imports from China and the world, 1980-84 11 

9. Annual production of fluorspar for Thailand, 1979-83 11 

10. Annual production of fluorspar for France, 1979-83 12 

11. Annual production of fluorspar for Italy, 1979-83 13 

12. Annual U.S. imports from Mexico and the world, 1980-84 15 

13. U.S. imports of fluorspar for consumption, by country, 1981-84 16 

14. Fluorspar deposits and deposit type „ 17 

15. Fluorspar reserves and resources, by country, j.984 18 

16. Fluorspar reserves and resources, by property, 1984 18 

17. Classification of domestic fluorspar reserves and resources, 1984 19 

18. Distribution of operating costs per metric ton of fluorspar concentrate produced for selected properties ... 22 

19. Average range of operating costs and the percentage of total cost per metric ton of fluorspar concentrate, 

by country 23 

20. Impact of local currency rates of exchange on the weighted-average total cost of production for selected nations 24 

21. Production estimates for evaluated properties in 1984, and estimated total production capacities for 1984 

and 1990, by country 25 

A-l. Ownership of fluorspar properties 33 

A-2. U.S. fluorspar properties deleted from study 33 

B-l. Annual production of acid-grade fluorspar for El Hammam, 1980-82 36 

B-2. Annual capacities and fluorspar products for the Republic of South Africa 38 

B-3. Annual production statistics for acid-grade fluorspar, Hammam Zriba, 1976-83 39 

B-4. Annual production capacities and products for China, 1983 40 

B-5. Transporation methods and distances from Chinese fluorspar mills to ports or points of consumption 41 

B-6. Annual production capacities and products for Thailand 42 

B-7. Deposits of the Morvan District, France 44 

B-8. Annual production of fluorspar concentrates, Las Cuevas, 1975-83 53 

B-9. Destinations of fluorspar concentrates produced in Mexico 54 

UNIT OF MEASURE ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THIS REPORT 



gal/d 


gallon per day 


mt 


metric ton 


gal/min 


gallon per minute 


mt/d 


metric ton per day 


ha 


hectare 


mt/yr 


metric ton per year 


km 


kilometer 


pet 


percent 


km 2 


square kilometer 


St 


short ton 


lb 


pound 


tr oz 


troy ounce 


m 


meter 


wt pet 


weight percent 


m 3 /h 


cubic meter per hour 


yr 


year 



FLUORSPAR AVAILABILITY— MARKET ECONOMY COUNTRIES AND 

CHINA 

A Minerals Availability Appraisal 

By Catherine C. Kilgore, 1 Sandra R. Kraemer, 2 and James A. Bekkala 2 



ABSTRACT 



The Bureau of Mines investigated the availability of fluorspar (CaF 2 ) from 36 U.S. 
and 50 foreign mines and deposits in 13 countries. Only 6 U.S. properties are considered 
to be economic, as 29 domestic deposits were found to have an average total cost of pro- 
duction that was uneconomical at a breakeven (0-pct) discounted-cash-flow rate of return 
(DCFROR). The 50 foreign properties evaluated represent at least 85 pet of demonstrated 
fluorspar resources located in market economy countries and China. All evaluated foreign 
operations were found to be economic to marginally economic in January 1984 dollars 
when compared against published prices for each country. 

Reserves for 56 properties totaled 97 million metric tons (mt) (recoverable CaF 2 ) from 
demonstrated ore resources of 344 million mt that contained 123 million mt CaF 2 . The 
average total cost needed to cover all costs over the life of each operation was determined 
for all recoverable fluorspar products. 

Comparisons of mining, beneficiation, and transportation costs per metric ton of 
fluorspar concentrate illustrate advantages between countries. Of the three countries with 
the greatest fluorspar production, China, with its high-grade, low-cost operations had the 
lowest weighted-average total cost of production ($38/mt concentrate). Mexico was next, 
at $54/mt concentrate, and benefited in U.S. dollar terms from the devaluation of the 
peso. The Republic of South Africa needed an average of $90/mt of concentrate to cover 
all costs of production at its large low-grade deposits. 

'Geologist. 

2 Mining engineer. 

Minerals Availability Field Office, Bureau of Mines, Denver, CO. 



INTRODUCTION 



The purposes of this report are to identify and define 
fluorspar resources and to evaluate the production potential 
and important factors affecting availability of fluorspar from 
U.S. and foreign properties. For this study, the Bureau of 
Mines analyzed the engineering and economic availability of 
fluorspar from 14 countries, including the United States. The 
objective was to cover at least 85 pet of the fluorspar 
resources in market economy countries (MEC's) and China; 
China was included because it has become a major supplier 
of fluorspar to the United States since 1981. With the prom- 
inent countries selected, the next objective was to cover at 
least 85 pet of known resources from producing and non- 
producing operations and undeveloped deposits within each 
of these countries. The mines and deposits evaluated and their 
current status, mining and beneficiation methods, and prod- 
ucts recovered are summarized in table 1. Ownership tables 
can be found in appendix A. 

Of the numerous domestic deposits known, 43 were 
originally investigated; 7 of these were excluded from this 
evaluation because technology to process the ore does not 
exist, or resource tonnages were reported as inferred rather 
than demonstrated, or the demonstrated resources as of 
January 1, 1984, were considered to be negligible or depleted. 
Deposits excluded from this study are listed in appendix A. 

Only six domestic operations are compared with other 
world operations, owing to the "marginal to subeconomic" 3 
nature of the majority of the domestic resources. The Bureau 
of Mines 1985 Mineral Commodity Summaries (28)* lists these 
six operations as the domestic reserves. Four of the opera- 
tions are owned by Ozark-Mahoning and are in Illinois; J. 



Irving Crowell owns a mine in Nevada; and D & F Minerals 
Co. owns one in Texas. 

Of the 56 domestic and foreign operations analyzed, 46 
were in production during January 1984, 3 were temporari- 
ly shut down, 1 was in development stages, and 6 were 
undeveloped. All 56 properties were compared together, as 
all were found to be economic or marginally economic. Non- 
producing and undeveloped properties are included with pro- 
ducing operations in all analyses, because development deci- 
sions appear to rely on finding consumers more than on the 
cost of production. The current slow market conditions have 
caused a reduction in production at most operations, leav- 
ing little room for new operations. 

The procedure for this study was to identify recoverable 
resources and engineering and economic parameters that 
would affect production from the deposits selected for evalua- 
tion. Dames & Moore gathered information on 50 foreign 
properties under contract J0225010 (7). This involved meeting 
with company officials and, in most cases, actual site visits 
by contract personnel to obtain information. Domestic deposit 
information was collected by personnel at Bureau of Mines 
field operations centers. Demonstrated and identified 
resources and commodity grades were defined; capital in- 
vestments and operating costs (direct and indirect) for the 
appropriate mining and beneficiation methods were obtain- 
ed or estimated; transportation costs to known market or port 
areas were assessed; and a cost evaluation for each deposit 
was performed. Finally, the individual deposit evaluations 
were aggregated to show potential fluorspar availability for 
acid, ceramic, and metallurgical grades at various long-run 
constant dollar commodity prices. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



The domestic fluorspar properties were evaluated by the 
following personnel of the Bureau of Mines Field Operation 
Centers: Robert C. Bowyer, David G. Hartos, and Mark E. 
Piros, Pittsburgh, PA; Michael Daley, Robert B. Davis, Alan 
G. Hite, Lee M. Osmonson, Joseph R. Soper, Jr., and Daniel 
S. Witkowsky, Denver, CO; David A. Benjamin, Burton B. 



Gossling, Arel B. McMahan, Michael Sokaski, and Thomas 
M. Sweeney, Spokane, WA; and R. David Carnes, Juneau, 
AK. Lawrence Pelham, Bureau of Mines fluorspar commodity 
specialist, has also been very helpful and supportive for this 
project. 



METHODOLOGY 



The Bureau of Mines is developing a continuously evolv- 
ing methodology for the analysis of long-run mineral resource 
availability. An integral part of this system is its Supply 
Analysis Model (SAM) (6). This interactive computer system 
is an effective mathematical tool for analyzing the effects of 
various parameters upon the economic availability of domestic 
and international resources. 

For each operation included in this evaluation, capital ex- 
penditures were calculated for exploration, acquisition, 



'Marginal to subeconomic is defined as needing a price greater than the cur- 
rent market price but less than 1.5 times the current price (lowest cost opera- 
tion was 1.1 times the market price). Subeconomic resources requiring a price 
greater than 1.5 times the current market price are listed in this evaluation 
as Other Resources. 

''Italicized numbers in parentheses refer to items in the list of references 
preceding appendix A. 



development, mine plant and mine equipment, and construct- 
ing and equipping the mill. The capital expenditures for the 
different mining and processing facilities include the costs 
of mobile and stationary equipment, construction, engineer- 
ing, infrastructure, and working capital. Infrastructure is a 
broad category which includes costs for access and haulage 
facilities, ports, water facilities, power supply, and person- 
nel accommodations. Working capital is a revolving cash fund 
required for operating expenses such as labor, supplies, in- 
surance, and taxes. All costs were in U.S. dollar terms. 

The initial capital costs for producing or past producing 
mines and developed deposits have been depreciated accord- 
ing to the actual investment year, and the undepreciated por- 
tion was treated as a capital investment in 1984, the year 
of costs for this evaluation. Reinvestments will vary accord- 



Table 1.— Fluorspar properties and associated production status, mining and beneficiation methods, and products recovered 



Country and property name 



Production 
Status Years 



Mining 
method 



Beneficiation 
method 



Product recovered 



China: 

Da Gai Tang mines, Hua De mill 

De An District 

Hei Shao Tou Mine, Bai Yun He Pe 
mill 

Hong An District 

Pong Lai mines, Fu Shan mill . . 

Pong Lai mines, Xian Shan mill . 

Wu Yi District 

France: 

Escaro 

Fontsante 

Le Burc 

Montroc 

Morvan District 

Rossignol 

Germany, Federal Republic of: 

Clara 

Kaefersteige 

Italy: 

Domusnovas 

Mineraria Silius 



Pianciano 

Kenya: Kenya Fluorspar Co 

Mexico: 

El Realito (Rio Verde) 

El Refugio (Rio Colorado) . . . 

Fluorita De Mexico 

La Domincia 

Las Cuevas 

Minas De Navidad 

San Francisco del Oro 

Zinc de Mexico 

Morocco: El Hammam 

Namibia: Okorusu 

South Africa, Republic of: 

Buffalo Fluorspar 

Kruidfontein 

Marico Fluorspar 

Transvaal Fluorspar 

Vergenoeg 

Witkop 

Spain: 

Fluoruros 

Gijon Area 

Mina Ana, Torre mill 

Minas de Orgiva 

Thailand: 

Thaivat Mining Co. (Tao Dam 
mine, Ban Lard mill). 

Mae La Luang 

Mae Tha District 

Phanom Thuan District 

Salak Pra 

SK Minerals 

Takien Ngam 

Tunisia: Hamman Zriba 

United Kingdom: 

Blackdene mill and mines . . . 

Broadwood mill and mines . . 

Derbyshire Deposits (Laporte) 
United States: 

Annabell Lee 

Barnett 

Denton 

Henson 



Piasano 
Nye Crowell 



27 Shrinkage 
23 Open pit . 



17 
24 

18 

17 

19 

14 

17 

11 

9 

4 

7 

11 

17 
24 
33 
21 
52 
54 

12 
25 
26 
29 



5 

10 

3 

4 

4 

4 

33 

46 

27 

16 

6 

11 

9 

10 

11 

12 
18 



55 Shrinkage 

33 Descending crosscuts 

49 Shrinkage 

49 . . do 

29 ..do 



10 Open pit . . 

4 Shrinkage . 

7 Top slicing 

9 Open pit . . 

20 ..do 

26 Shrinkage . 



W W 
W W 



8 Open pit 
18 Sublevel 



Open pit 
..do ... 



Stoping with fill 

..do 

Room and pillar 

..do 

Shrinkage 

..do 

..do 

Hydraulicking . . 

Shrinkage 

Open pit 



..do 

..do 

..do 

Room and pillar 

Open pit 

..do 



Open pit, room and pillar 

Room and pillar 

Room and pillar, open pit 
Room and pillar 



Shrinkage, open pit . 

Open stope 

Open pit 

..do 

Open pit, open stope 

Open pit 

..do 

Room and pillar 



Shrinkage 

..do 

Sublevel stoping 

Shrinkage 

..do 

Room and pillar 
Shrinkage 



Open pit 
Sublevel 



Flotation 
..do ... 



..do 
..do 
..do 
..do 
..do 



..do 

..do 

Heavy media 
Flotation . . . 

..do 

Heavy media 



Flotation 
..do ... 



..do 



..do 
..do 
..do 
..do 
..do 
..do 
..do 
..do 
..do 
..do 

..do 
..do 
..do 
..do 
..do 
..do 

..do 
..do 
..do 
..do 



..do 

Sizing 

Heavy media 

Sizing 

Handsorting 
Flotation . . . 
Handsorting 
Flotation . . . 



..do 
..do . 

..do 

..do 
..do 
..do 

..do 

Sizing 
..do . 



Acid, metallurgical. 

Acid, metallurgical, ceramic. 

Acid, metallurgical. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 

Acid. 

Do. 
Acid, metallurgical. 
Acid, ceramic. 
Acid. 
Metallurgical, barite. 

Acid, barite products. 
Acid. 

Do. 



do Acid, metallurgical, lead, barite 

products. 

Gravity Metallurgical. 

Flotation Acid. 



Acid, metallurgical. 

Acid, metallurgical, ceramic. 

Acid. 

Do. 
Acid, metallurgical. 

Do. 
Acid. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Acid, metallurgical, ceramic. 

Do. 
Acid. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Acid, metallurgical, ceramic. 
Acid, ceramic. 

Do. 
Acid, ceramic, lead. 



Acid. 
Metallurgical. 

Do. 
Acid feed 2 , metallurgical. 

Do. 
Acid. 

Metallurgical. 
Acid. 

Acid, lead. 

Acid, metallurgical, lead. 

Acid, barite, aggregate. 

Acid, lead, zinc, aggregate. 

Do. 

Do. 
Acid, metallurgical, lead, zinc, 

aggregate. 
Metallurgical. 

Do. 



N Nonproducing as of January 1, 1984. P Producing as of January 1, 1984. T Temporary shutdown. 

W Withheld to avoid disclosing company proprietary data. 

'Number of production years remaining to deplete 1984 demonstrated resources. 

2 Acid feed at approximately 55 pet CaF 2 is sold to Thai Fluorite Processing Co. for their Ban Lard mill. 

Production started in late 1984. 



ing to capacity, production life, and age of the facilities. 
Where appropriate, costs have been updated to 1984 U.S. 
dollars according to local currency factors and individual 
country inflation indexes, weighted proportionately by the 
impact of labor, energy, and capital of the fluorspar industry 
on a countrywide basis. 

The total operating cost of a mining project is a combina- 
tion of direct and indirect costs. Direct operating costs in- 



clude operating and maintenance labor and supplies, super- 
vision, payroll overhead, insurance, local taxation, and 
utilities. The indirect operating costs include technical and 
clerical labor, administrative costs, maintenance of facilities, 
and research. 

After production parameters and costs for the develop- 
ment of domestic fluorspar deposits were established, the 
SAM was used to perform various economic evaluations per- 



taining to the potential availability of various grades of 
fluorspar. The SAM system is a comprehensive economic 
evaluation simulator used to determine the constant-dollar, 
long-run price at which the primary commodity 5 must be sold 
to recover all costs of production, including a prespecified 
discounted-cash-flow rate of return (DCFROR) on invest- 
ment, less all byproduct revenues. The DCFROR is defined 
as the rate that makes the present value of all current and 
future revenues equal to the present value of all current and 
future costs of production. For this study, constant rates of 
return on investment of both pet (breakeven) and 15 pet 
were specified. The rate of 15 pet was considered the 
minimum sufficient to attract new capital to the industry. 

The SAM contains a separate tax records file for each 
State and country that includes all the relevant tax 
parameters under which a mining firm would operate. These 
tax parameters are applied to each mineral deposit under 
evaluation with the implicit assumption that each deposit 
represents a separate corporate entity. In reality, properties 
belonging to the same corporation would have certain tax 
advantages not assumed for this evaluation. Other items in- 
cluded in the analysis are standard deductibles such as 
depreciation, depletion, deferred expenses, investment tax 
credits, and tax loss carryforwards. The SAM also contains 
a separate file of economic indexes to allow for updating all 
cost estimates for producing and nonproducing operations 
and undeveloped deposits. 

Prices files are maintained in the SAM for all com- 
modities that will be relevant to the availability analyses, and 
all commodities recovered in the analyses are considered to 
be marketable. The byproduct commodity prices used in this 
study are shown in table 2. 

Detailed cash-flow analyses are generated with the SAM 
system for each preproduction and production year of a mine 
or deposit beginning with the initial year of analysis (1984). 
Upon completion of the individual analysis for each deposit, 
all properties were simultaneously analyzed and aggregated 
into an availability curve. 

The availability of each fluorspar product recoverable 
from a deposit is presented as a function of the total cost of 
production associated with that product from each deposit. 
Availability curves are constructed as aggregations of the 
total amount of commodity potentially available from each 



Table 2.— Byproduct prices used in economic evaluations (7, 76) 



Commodity 

Aggregate, limestone per mt . 

Barite: 

Domestic per st . 

Ground, white per st . 

Ground OCMA' per st . 

Unground OCMA 1 per st . 

Gold per tr oz. 

Lead per lb . 

Silver per tr oz. 

Tin per lb . 

Tungsten per lb . 

Zinc per lb . 



Price, 
January 1984 

$3.75 

105.00 

142.50 

78.75 

40.00 

370.89 

.25 

8.18 

5.69 

13.10 

.49 



'OCMA: Oil Company Materials Association, European specifications 
for barite. Ground, minus 325 mesh, minimum 91 pet BaSO«. Unground, 
91 pet BASO,. 



of the evaluated operations, ordered from the deposits hav- 
ing the lowest average total cost per unit of production to 
those having the highest. The potential availability of each 
fluorspar product at a price can be seen by comparing an ex- 
pected long-run, constant-dollar market price with the 
average total cost values shown on the availability curves. 
The total recoverable tonnage potentially available at or 
below this price-cost value can be read directly from the total 
availability curve. Annual availability curves were also con- 
structed to account for the time lags involved in arriving at 
the total production potential. These curves are simply the 
total availability of fluorspar in any given year, based on the 
development and production schedules assumed for each 
deposit. 

Certain assumptions are inherent in these curves. First, 
all deposits will produce at full design capacity throughout 
the productive life of the deposit, except when it was known 
that an operation was producing at reduced levels, or was 
temporarily closed under current depressed market condi- 
tions. It was assumed that full capacity would be resumed 
over the next 1 to 4 yr. Second, each operation will be able 
to sell all of its output at the determined total cost and ob- 
tain at least the minimum specified rate of return. Byproducts 
are considered to be sold at the prices listed in table 2. Third, 
all preproduction development of all undeveloped deposits 
began in January 1984. 



FLUORSPAR INDUSTRY 



Fluorspar is the commercial name for fluorite, a mineral 
composed of calcium flouride (CaF 2 ). It is the principal source 
of elemental fluorine. Fluorspar is marketed in three major 
grade classifications including acid, ceramic, and 
metallurgical. Specifications vary in the amount of contained 
CaF 2 and impurities. Consumers may have various product 
specifications, particularly for ceramic and metallurgical 
grades. 



5 For this evaluation, all fluorspar products were considered to he primary, 
and thus revenues were proportioned according to the relative value of each 
product. For example, U.S. metallurgical-grade products sold for $125/mt, 
which is 73 pet of the price of $171/mt for acid-grade products. Revenues 
assigned to metallurgical products would he 7o pet of those assigned to acid- 
grade products. There is further discussion on price proportioning in the Price 
Proportions section later in this report. 



GRADES AND USAGE 

Acid-grade fluorspar contains not less than 97 pet CaF 2 . 
User specifications may impose limits on silica, calcium car- 
bonate, sulfide or free sulfur, calcite, beryllium, arsenic, lead, 
phosphates, and other constituents. Acid-grade fluorspar is 
consumed primarily in the production of hydrofluoric acid 
(HF) which can be in the form of gas or liquid. HF has 
numerous applications in the fluorochemical, aluminum, and 
uranium industries (27). 

Two standard forms of ceramic-grade fluorspar are No. 
1 Ceramic containing 95 to 96 pet CaF 2 , and No. 2 Ceramic, 
containing 85 to 90 pet CaF 2 . A medium grade, commonly 
93 to 94 pet CaF 2 , is also specified by some consumers. Other 
limitations may be imposed on silica, calcite, ferric oxide, and 
sulfides according to a particular customer's specification. 
Uses for ceramic-grade products include fiberglass insula- 



tions, fluxes, flint glass, white or colored opal glasses, 
enamels, and welding rod coatings (13). 

Metallurgical-grade fluorspar traded on the world market 
contains a minimum of 60 pet CaF 2 , and is normally consumed 
by the steel industry. In the United States, a minimum of 
70 pet CaF 2 ("effective pet"), with not over 0.1 pet S, and 
not over 0.25 pet Pb, is specified (4-1). The effective percen- 
tage is calculated by multiplying the silica content by a fac- 
tor of 2.5 and subtracting that amount from the percentage 
of CaF 2 . Thus, a concentrate with 85 pet CAF 2 and 6 pet Si0 2 
would be 70 effective pet (85 - (6 x 2.5) = 70). 

In addition to metallurgical grade, an increasing percent- 
age of the fluorspar used in the steel industry is in the form 
of briquettes made from flotation concentrates of either acid 
or ceramic grade. The grades of the briquettes range widely 
and depend upon consumer preference. High grades (90 pet 
CaF 2 ) usually have no additive fluxes, but low grades (25 pet 
CaF 2 ) are diluted by other fluxing minerals or scrap ore 
materials. Briquettes are normally manufactured near con- 
suming centers in order to blend in materials otherwise lost 
as waste. 



U.S. IMPORT DUTIES 

The duty on fluorspar imported to the United States is 
$2.10 per long ton fluorspar assaying more than 97 pet CaF 2 
(acid-grade) and 13.5 pet ad valorem for all lower grade con- 
centrates and ores, most of which are metallurgical grades 
(27). The duty favors imports of fluorspar of 97 pet or greater, 
while the ad valorem charge on lower grade products favors 
lower priced products, as they have a lower value to charge 
against. 

Fluorspar products from Kenya and Morocco currently 
have duty free entry into the United States under the 
Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) for developing na- 
tions. Fluorspar consumers importing fluorspar from other 
nations have made several unsuccessful attempts to obtain 
repeal of duties on fluorspar, particularly since the U.S. 
fluorspar industry only produces the equivalent of about 10 
pet of domestic consumption. The United States relies on im- 
ports for most of its acid- and ceramic-grade, and almost all 
of its metallurgical-grade needs. 



WORLD FLUORSPAR PRICES 

Published fluorspar prices for 1984 are listed in table 3. 
These prices can be used for comparison with the average 
total cost of production shown on the availability curves 
located in the section of this report entitled Factors Affect- 
ing Availability of Fluorspar. One should keep in mind that 
these are 1984 published prices, whereas the average total 
cost represents long-run constant dollars over the life of the 
operation. 

Pricing trends for acid- and metallurgical-grade fluorspar 
over the years 1979-84 are shown in figure 1. These prices 
represent yearly published averages and are f.o.b. port of ex- 
port, except the U.S. producer price that is f.o.b. mill, Illinois. 
Additional transportation costs are not included, and spot 

"The Mexican Fluorspar Institute, a Government-sponsored agency, set 
prices for fluorspar products sold by Mexican producers from 1974 until 
January 1984. 

'The Bureau (27) reported an average import value (c.i.f.) of Chinese 
metallurgical-grade fluorspar at $94.36/mt for 1982, while Mexican imports 
were valued at $116.53/mt, a difference of $22.17/mt. 



Table 3.— Fluorspar grades and 1984 market prices (8, 16) 

CaF 
Country and product H ' L , Comments 



Price, 
$/mt 



China' 








Acid, dry basis 


97 
2 70 


f.o.b. China 


. 110 


Metallurgical 


..do 


55 


Mexico: 








Acid, dry basis, 


+ 97 


Tampico, 


108 


filter cake. 




f.o.b. vessel. 




Ceramic 


94-95 


Mexican border, 


103 






f.o.b. cars. 




Metallurgical 


2 72.5 


Tampico, 
f.o.b. vessel. 


80 


Northern Europe: 








Acid, dry bulk 


97 


f.o.b. N. Europe 


. 120 


South Africa, Republic of: 








Acid, dry basis 


97 


f.o.b. Durban 


. 110 


United Kingdom: 








Acid, dry basis 


97 


Dried, bulk 
delivered tankers. 


147 


Metallurgical 


2 70 


Ex-U.K. mine 


70 


United States: 








Acid, dry basis 


97 

97 

95-96 


Carload 


. 171 


Do 


Pellets .... 


170 


Ceramic, No. 1 


Calcite and silica 


165 






variable. 




Metallurgical 


2 70 


Pellets 


. 125 









'Data supplied by R. Fulton. 

'Effective percentage rating for metallurgical-grade fluorspar defined 
as percent CaF 2 minus 2.5 times percent Si0 2 . 



prices were not considered. While it is apparent that U.S. 
producer prices are the highest on the world market, addi- 
tional freight costs and duty charges must be added to all 
foreign concentrates imported to the United States. 

Fluorspar prices peaked in 1981 and 1982 and then 
dropped significantly as reduced demand and oversupply 
slowed the market. Prices for Mexican 6 metallurgical-grade 
fluorspar dropped in 1983 as a result of pressure in 1981 and 
1982 from Chinese imports, which were commonly $25/mt' 
below delivered Mexican prices in those years (30). In 1982, 
metallurical-grade fluorspar from China accounted for over 
58 pet of imports containing less than 97 pet CaF 2 . 

Price comparisons for acid-grade fluorspar over the years 
1979-84 are shown for selected countries in figure 2. In 1982, 
European and South African producers took advantage of 
the Mexican producer prices ($154/mt acid-grade, $123/mt 
metallurigical-grade) and set spot prices well below Mexico's 
established prices. Spot prices for acid-grade concentrates 
ranged as low as $85/mt to $115/mt, and some suppliers were 
delivering concentrates to gulf port areas for $25/mt to 
$30/mt below the Mexican producer price at Tampico (31). 
In addition to the advantage of being able to undercut Mex- 
ican prices, the Republic of South Africa, Spain, and Italy 
took advantage of lower freight rates for their exports to the 
United States and northern European ports. Chinese acid- 
grade prices, at $110/mt to $115/mt delivered f.o.b. Chinese 
ports, allowed China to also enter the U.S. market. 

By 1983, the worldwide industrial slowdown and over- 
supply of fluorspar during 1982 caused published acid-grade 
prices to fall to an average of about $120/mt. Mexico still had 
its controlled price structure in place, and in the scramble 
for a share of the shrinking market, spot prices from pro- 
ducers in other countries were commonly lower than the Mex- 
ican price of $119.41/mt. Some South African producers, for 
example, were delivering acid-grade concentrates to gulf 
ports for less than the prices that Mexican producers were 
allowed to charge for delivery to the same area (32). By 1984, 
Mexico was eager to regain customers and abandoned its pric- 
ing structure. The average reported price for Mexican acid- 
grade concentrates in 1984 was $108/mt, just under the Euro- 



200-i 




United 
States 



Europe Mexico 
-ACID 



South 
Africa 



Mex ico 



United 
States 
| METALLURGICAL^ 

Figure 1.— Acid- and metallurgical-grade fluorspar price comparisons, f.o.b. port. 



KEY 
1979 



1980 




1982 



























1983 



1984 



C 
o 



+> 

03 

£ 

r_ 

Q 

m 

r_ 

(0 



ID 
CJ 
t-l 

rr 

a. 



200 - 



150 



100 



50 



l — 




1979 



1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 

Figure 2. — Acid-grade price comparisons, 1979-84, f.o.b. port. 



KEY 
United States 




South Africa 





Number 

of 

properties 


Ownership 




Export 


Country 


Private 


Government 


fluorspar 




Domestic Foreign 


products 



Table 4.— Number of properties held by ownership type, and availability of fluorspar for export, by country 

Owner; 

Private 

lestic Foreic 

China 7 ~6 0~ 7 Yes 

France 6 1 5 No 

Germany, Federal Republic of 2 2 No 

Italy 3 2 1 Yes 

Kenya 1 1 Yes 

Mexico 8 3 '5 Yes 

Morocco 1 1 Yes 

Namibia 1 1 ( 2 ) 

South Africa, Republic of 6 1 5 Yes 

Spain 4 4 Yes 

Thailand 7 7 Yes 

Tunisia 1 1 No 

United Kingdom 3 3 No 3 

United States 6 6 No 

Total 56 30 12 14 NAp 

NAp Not applicable. 

'Mexico requires 51 pet domestic ownership of all operations. The 5 foreign properties have 40 to 49 pet foreign ownership. 

2 Okorusu deposit in Namibia is undeveloped, plans for production unknown. 

3 Minor exports. 



pean and South African published prices of $110/mt to 
$130/mt. 

The lowered prices for fluorspar are taking their toll on 
the industry, as most operations have cut back production 
and a number of mines and facilities have been closed or put 
on temporary care and maintenance status. Higher cost mines 
nearing depletion have been closed in Mexico, Spain, France, 
and the United Kingdom. Las Cuevas, the largest producer 
in Mexico, limited operations to mine development and 
shipped from its stockpile in 1983, and El Refugio was tem- 
porarily closed. The Marico operation in South Africa was 
placed on care and maintenance in 1982, and several opera- 
tions in China were stockpiling ore during 1983 for future 
processing. 

OWNERSHIP 

Ownership of the 56 operations evaluated has been 
divided into three categories: private, domestic; private, 
foreign; and Government controlled. Table 4 lists the owner- 
ship type by country according to the number of operations 
controlled by each group, and shows if fluorspar production 
is generally available for export. Operations with shared 
governmental ownership were assumed to be under govern- 
mental control. Private ownership was grouped as foreign 
if there was any foreign party involved. Figure 3 shows the 
percentage of ownership based on 1984 ore resources. When 
this illustration is compared with the data in table 4, it is ap- 
parent that the distribution of resources is not related to the 
number of properties per category. On the contrary, while 
54 pet of the properties are held by 30 private, domestic com- 
panies, 53 pet of the resources are held by 12 private, foreign 
companies. 

Vertical integration is common in the fluorspar industry; 
many of the mines are controlled by subsidiaries of large com- 
panies that also consume fluorspar products. This true of both 
private and Government-controlled operations. For example, 
in the United States Ozark-Mahoning produces acid-grade 
fluorspar for its parent company, the Penwalt Corp. Mexico 
requires that 51 pet of Mexican operations be held by na- 
tionals; the remaining 49 pet is generally owned by U.S. and 
Canadian companies. Some of these companies consume 
fluorspar, others market it. Although operations in France 
and Tunisia are Government controlled, virtually all produc- 
tion is consumed domestically by the same companies. 

Operations in Spain, Thailand, Morocco, Kenya, and the 
United Kingdom (except Laporte Industries) are not vertical- 




Figure 3.— Demonstrated ore resources (344 million mt), by 
ownership-type, 1984. 

ly integrated. All but the United Kingdom export the ma- 
jority of fluorspar produced. 

Government operations are affected less by market con- 
ditions than their private counterparts, but Government con- 
trol has different impacts in each country. In France and 
Tunisia, production is maintained to meet domestic demands; 
in China and Kenya, production is viewed as a major source 
of employment, as well as supplying China's domestic 
requirements. 

The labor force at the Kenya fluorspar operation is much 
larger than needed, but Government laws prohibit a reduc- 
tion in labor. This effectively makes labor a fixed cost, 
whereas it is a variable cost for privately owned operations. 
In China, the Government has taken a new approach and has 
started basing employee pay upon the units of work com- 
pleted, resulting in an improvement in worker productivity. 
Employment has been maintained during the recent 
slowdown in the fluorspar market, and ore not consumed 
domestically was being stockpiled in 1982. Several mills were 
temporarily closed, but employees keep them in top shape, 
and operations could be resumed in about 2 weeks. 
Metallurgical grades were stockpiled ready for market, but 
acid grades were stockpiled as feed and would have to be 
beneficiated prior to marketing. 



COUNTRY OVERVIEWS AND HISTORIC PERSPECTIVE OF FLUORSPAR PRODUCTION 



World fluorspar production for 1979-83 is shown in table 
5. Annual production of fluorspar from the 13 evaluated coun- 
tries averaged 67 pet of world production over these years. 
Annual production from the other MEC's averaged 2 pet, and 
the remaining 31 pet was produced primarily by the U.S.S.R. 
and Mongolia, with lesser amounts from other centrally 
planned economy countries (CPEC's). 

The apparent increasing percentage of world production 
from CPEC's is somewhat misleading. Many of these coun- 
tries do not report annual production figures to the Bureau 
of Mines, thus the production numbers may be estimates 
based upon historical trends and assumed capacities. The 
assumed growth in these countries does not take into account 
the overall world decline in fluorspar production, which may 
have affected the CPEC's as well. The countries in this 



evaluation that are sheltered from world markets (i.e., they 
produce primarily for domestic consumption) have not been 
immune to recession and declines in consumptive industries 
such as steel and aluminum. They may have suffered less 
severe cutbacks than exporting countries, but they have suf- 
fered cutbacks. 

Recent information from Czechoslavakia indicates that 
the historic reported production and capacity figures for that 
country are almost double current actual levels. The acid- 
grade concentrates produced in Czechoslavakia are all 
targeted for consumption by the U.S.S.R. This information, 
and exporting information obtained during site visits to other 
countries, indicates that the U.S.S.R. is not self-sufficient in 
fluorspar. Operations evaluated in Thailand, Spain, and China 
also export fluorspar to the U.S.S.R. 



Table 5.— Annual production of fluorspar, 1979-82 (27) 

1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 s 

Evaluated countries: 1 

Production 10 3 mt.. 3,144 3,335 3,343 2.765 2,707 

Pet of total 68.2 69.3 70.0 64.7 62.9 

Other MEC's: 2 

Production 10 3 mt.. 124 100 103 111 109 

Pet of total 2.7 2.1 2.1 2.6 2.5 

CPEC's: 3 

Production 10'mt.. 1,342 1,379 1.381 1,466 1,486 

Pet of total 29.1 28.6 28.9 34.3 34.6 

World total 10 3 mt.. 4,611 4,816 4,771 4.275 4.300 

Estimated. 

Note. — Data may not add to totals shown because of independent rounding. 

'China, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Morocco, Republic of South Africa, Spain, Thailand, Tunisia, United Kingdom, 
United States. 
"Argentina, Brazil, Greece. South Korea. Pakistan, Turkey. Uruguay. 
•'Czechoslovakia, German Democratic Republic, North Korea, Mongolia, Romania, U.S.S.R. 



AFRICA 

The following section includes a brief description of the 
operations and deposits evaluated on the African continent, 
in Kenya, Morocco, Namibia, South Africa, and Tunisia. 
Historical fluorspar production data for each country over 
the years 1979-83 are compared with world totals. Figure 
4 shows the locations of the 10 properties evaluated. 

Kenya 

Kenya Fluorspar Co. Ltd. (KFC), a wholly owned Kenya 
Government company, has operated an open pit fluorspar 
mine and flotation mill since 1979. Located approximately 
240 km by air, 400 km by road northeast of Nairobi, the mine 
lies nearly at the bottom of the Kerio Valley, which is part 
of the Great Rift Valley. 

Table 6 lists the annual fluorspar production for coun- 
tries evaluated. The decline in Kenyan production since 1981 
mirrors world market conditions. The acid-grade filter cake 
is trucked to a railhead at Kaptagat and then railed to the 
port of Mombasa on the Indian Ocean. The U.S.S.R. has been 
the major consumer of the acid-grade concentrates over the 
last few years. 

As a result of the remote location of the mine, and the 
relative absence of service-oriented dealerships for mining 
and processing machinery in Kenya, KFC has had to invest 
heavily in new machinery and spare parts over the last few 
years. The objective was to build up a 2-yr inventory to avoid 
the tight restrictions and delays in the allocation of foreign 



exchange import licenses and the long delays in the supply 
of items from the United States and Europe. 

Morocco 

El Hammam fluorspar operation includes an 
underground shrinkage stope mine, a heavy media plant, and 
an acid-grade flotation mill located in the foothills of the 
Moyen Atlas Mountains, 65 km by road from Meknes. The 
property consists of four concessions owned and operated by 
Societe Anonyme d' Enterprises Minieres (SAMINE). 

The consortium to develop El Hammam was set up in 
1971, and initial mine production began in 1974. Full-scale 
production was reached in 1975. The acid-grade filter cake 
is trucked to Meknes and then railed to port at Casablanca. 
All production is exported to various countries. 

While production declined in 1982, production levels were 
expected to return to near normal in 1983. (See table 6). This 
is because of increased sales to customers, such as the United 
States, who had previously obtained fluorspar from other 
countries. In 1983, U.S. acid-grade fluorspar imports from 
Morocco accounted for 5 pet of total acid-grade imports, up 
from 3 pet in 1982. 

Namibia 

The ownership of Okorusu fluorspar deposit is shared by 
Imkor Pty. Ltd., a subsidiary of Iscor Ltd. and South African 
Manganese Corp. (Samancor). The undeveloped deposit is 
located 45 km north of the town of Otjiwarongo, and 12 km 
northwest of the rail siding of Otjikango. 




LEGEND 
• Cities 
tf Mines 



500 1,000 2,000 



Figure 4.— African fluorspar properties. 



Aside from a modest amount of open pit mining and a 
small adit on the ore outcropping on the Imkor side, there 
has been no mine development in the area, and no mill has 
been built. Substantial test drilling, surface trenching, and 
pitting on both property groups has been performed to 
establish tonnage and grade values and to provide bulk 
samples for metallurgical testing. As proposed, this deposit 
would produce high-grade metallurgical fluorspar, and a 1988 
startup date was assumed. Because of the high phosphate 
content, phosphate-tolerant customers in Europe and North 
America would be the natural market for the metallurgical- 
grade filter cake. 

Republic of South Africa 

The Republic of South Africa's production of fluorspar 
has become a significant factor in the world total, as shown 
in table 6. The effect of closing the Marico fluorspar mine 
in 1982 can be seen in the South African production statistics. 
Estimated 1983 production was only 52 pet of the high for 
1980, but with world production also declining, the South 
African share of world production has declined by just over 
40 pet. Recent production and shipment statistics for the Buf- 
falo Mine, the country's largest producer, also reflect a cut- 
back in line with world market requirements, as shown in 
table 7. 

South African domestic requirements for fluorspar are 
small, accounting for just about 10 pet of the country's total 
sales. The local steel industry consumes the bulk of the 
domestically used fluorspar, about 30,000 to 35,000 mt/yr. 



Table 6.— Annual production of fluorspar for evaluated countries and the world, 1979-83 (27) 



1979 



1980 



1981 



1982 



1983 



China: 

Production 10 3 mt 

Pet of world 

France: 

Production 10 3 mt 

Pet of world 

Germany, Federal Republic of: 

Production' 10 3 mt 

Pet of world 

Italy: 

Production 10 3 mt 

Pet of world 

Kenya: 

Production 10 3 mt 

Pet of world 

Mexico: 

Production 10 3 mt 

Pet of world 

Morocco: 

Production 10 3 mt 

Pet of world 

South Africa, Republic of: 

Production 10 3 mt 

Pet of world 

Spain: 

Production 10 3 mt 

Pet of world 

Thailand: 

Production 10 3 mt 

Pet of world 

Tunisia: 

Production 10 3 mt 

Pet of world 

United Kingdom: 

Production 10 3 mt 

Pet of world 

United States: 

Production 10 3 mt 

Pet of world 

World production 10 3 mt 

"Estimated. 

'Marketable fluorspar. 

2 Updated information provided by T. Glover. 

3 Updated information provided by G. Kinney. 



459 
10.0 


479 
9.9 


479 
10.0 


479 
11.2 


479 
11.2 


259 

5.6 


258 

5.4 


256 

5.4 


243 

5.7 


240 

5.6 


63 
1.4 


78 
1.6 


79 
1.6 


72 e 
1.7 


73 
1.7 


183 

4.0 


152 
3.2 


164 

3.4 


167 
3.9 


160 

3.7 


77 
1.7 


93 
1.9 


96 
2.0 


89 
2.1 


2 59 

1.4 


875 
19.0 


916 
19.2 


925 
19.4 


631 
14.8 


605 

14.1 


63 
1.4 


64 
1.3 


67 

1.4 


50 
1.2 


64 
1.5 


451 
9.7 


523 
10.9 


496 
10.4 


331 
7.7 


274 
6.4 


193 

4.2 


245 

5.1 


313 
5.4 


261 

4.5 


187 
4.3 


235 
5.1 


233 

4.8 


212 
4.4 


241 
5.6 


3 207 

4.8 


34 
0.7 


39 
0.8 


35 
0.7 


33 
0.8 


34 
0.8 


154 
3.3 


171 
3.6 


116 
2.4 


98 
2.3 


200 

4.6 


99 
2.2 


84 
1.7 


105 
2.2 


70 
1.6 


55 
1.3 



4,611 



4,816 



4,771 



4,275 



4,300 



10 



Table 7.— Annual production at Buffalo fluorspar mine, 
1977-83 (2) 

(Thousand metric tons) 



Year 



Ore 

treated 



Products 



1977 1,466 

1978 1,708 

1979 1,743 

1980 1,711 

1981 1,815 

1982 1,839 

1983 1,504 



Acid 


Ceramic 


Metall. 


Total 


101 


5 


31 


137 


118 


10 


22 


150 


144 


8 


23 


175 


172 


10 


23 


205 


182 


10 


23 


215 


156 


10 


25 


191 


115 


5 


28 


148 



Domestic ceramic, flux, and HF requirements total from 
5,000 to 13,000 mt/yr. South Africa produces HF for its in- 
ternal requirements only, does not compete in the world 
market, and has no immediate plans to do so (2). The bulk 
of South Africa's fluorspar is exported, accounting for the 
significant share of fluorspar entering world trade. 

Loss of production from Marico has also contributed to 
the decline in U.S. imports from South Africa. U.S. imports 
of acid-grade fluorspar from South Africa dropped from 39 
pet in 1982 to only 29 pet in 1983. While South Africa's 
shipments to the Far East have also declined, in part as a 
result of the recent increased availability of Chinese concen- 
trates, distribution remains quite diverse and reflects the 
similar mileage (nautical miles) from Durban to key market 
ports: Rotterdam, 7,000; Yokohama, 7,300; and New Orleans, 
7,900. The port of Durban has greatly enhanced the coun- 
try's position in the world fluorspar market, because quick, 
efficient loading facilities give a large time advantage over 
the numerous older ports around the world. 

As the statistics illustrate, the deep recession of 1982-83 
has had a serious impact on the South African fluorspar in- 
dustry. South African producers have been particularly hard 
hit because their large, low-grade, open pit operations rely 
on high-volume production to keep unit costs under control. 
With this volume absent, much of the needed profit margins 
have been eliminated at the operating mines {2). 

As the recession ends, margins are expected to return 
to more realistic long-term levels. According to Berger, 
"South Africa has an excellent reserve position with large 
mines owned and operated by large, well-financed, multi- 
national companies" (2). It is expected to remain a major sup- 
plier of fluorspar to the international fluorspar markets well 
beyond the year 2000. 

Tunisia 

Hammam Zriba, located approximately 54 km south of 
Tunis, was the only fluorspar property evaluated in Tunisia. 
Nearly all of the fluorspar production in Tunisia comes from 
Hammam Zriba, with only a small amount of fluorspar con- 
centrates produced as byproducts from Bou Jabeur, a lead- 
zinc mine southwest of El Kef. The Office Nationale des 
Mines (ONM) has had favorable results from drilling opera- 
tions at two other sites, Djebel Guebli, 3 km south of Ham- 
mam Zriba, and Hammam Djedidi, about 20 km northeast. 

Mineralization at Djebel Guebli occurs at the same 
stratigraphic horizon as Hammam Zriba, and there is a 
possibility that the two are continuous. Potential resources 
for the two could double the amount currently reported by 
Hammam Zriba. To date, only preliminary exploration has 
been performed at Djebel Guebli and Hammam Djedidi, and 
additional work will need to be done prior to making specific 
plans. The ONM also studied four other sites, but with less 
success; these rank far below the other prospects. 



The mine and mill at Hammam Zriba are owned and 
operated by Societe Miniere de Spath Fluor et Barytine 
(FLUOBAR), which is owned 50 pet by Societe Industries 
Chimiques du Fluor (ICF) and 50 pet directly by the Tuni- 
sian Government. ICF is the Tunisian Government's fluorine 
chemicals company, owned 51 pet by the Government. The 
balance of 49 pet is divided among the World Bank (Societe 
Financiere International), Arab Mining Co. (Jordan), and 
Banque National de Tunisie. The Government aims to divest 
its 50-pct direct interest in FLUOBAR and is encouraging 
ICF to double FLUOBAR's acid-grade output by attracting 
another investor to provide financing for the expansion. 

All of the acid-grade concentrate is consumed by ICF for 
conversion to aluminum fluoride. ICF trucks the fluorspar 
from the mill to a railhead at Bou Ficha and then rails it 300 
km south to its plant at Gabes. As shown in table 6, Tunisia's 
production is a small portion of world production. 

ASIA 

The following section includes a brief discussion of the 
operations and deposits evaluated in Asia. Historical fluorspar 
production figures for China and Thailand are discussed (see 
table 6) and compared with world totals. Figure 5 shows the 
locations of the seven properties evaluated in China. 

China 

Six mining districts, with seven fluorspar mills, were 
chosen in cooperation with the Chinese government for 
evaluation as the major fluorspar producers. These included 
the Hong An mining district and mill, Hubei Province; the 



M O N G O 




LEGEND 
• Cities 
X Mines 
X Mill sites 
@ Mines and mills 



Figure 5.— Fluorspar operations in China. 



11 



Table 8.— Annual U.S. imports from China and the world, 1980-84 (25-27) 

1980 1981 1982 

More than 97 pet CaF 2 : 

Total U.S. imports mt. . 577,953 517,882 370,135 

From China: 

Imports mt . . 5,837 

Pet of total 1 .6 

Not more than 97 pet CaF 2 : 

Total U.S. imports mt . . 273,939 232,01 1 123,022 

From China: 

Imports mt . . 25,054 23,223 71 ,785 

Pet of total 10.5 10.0 58.3 



1983 



1984 



349,320 



473,027 



5,399 
1.5 


35 



61,836 


165,341 


22,109 
35.7 


56,722 
34.3 



Hei Shao Tou mining district, which feeds the Bai Yun He 
Pe mill, and the Da Gai Tang mining district, serving the Hua 
De mill, Nei Monngol (Inner Mongolia); the De An mining 
district and mill, Jiangxi Province; the Pong Lai mining 
district, supplying Fu Shan and Xian Shan mills, Shandong 
Province; and the Wu Yi mining district and Dong Feng mill, 
Zhejiang Province. The mines and mills are owned and 
operated by the local government bureaus as part of the pro- 
vincial structure of the Ministry of Metallurgical Industries. 

China's production of fluorspar represents approx- 
imately 11 pet of world production (table 6). About half is 
used domestically, which reduces the impact on world supp- 
ly. China has the potential resources and facility capacities 
to increase production levels when markets improve. The 
reported production levels have remained constant over a 
number of years because of the lack of information available 
from the Chinese Government. According to information 
obtained during the site visits, mine production was continu- 
ing during the worldwide slowdown; however, some of the 
ore normally processed for export was being stockpiled until 
world consumption picked up again. 

China began exporting metallurgical-grade fluorspar to 
the United States in 1980; acid-grade products arrived in 
1982. As shown in table 8, China has taken a large share of 
the metallurgical-grade market since 1980. This was a result 
of markedly lower prices which attracted cost-conscious 
buyers. In 1981, reported c.i.f. values for Chinese 
metallurgical-grade fluorspar (containing not more than 97 
pet CaF 2 ) were only $65.84/mt; this was nearly $55/mt less 
than values for Mexican imports, reported at $120.66/mt 
(26). However, this trend diminished in 1983, as world pro- 
duction and consumption levels dropped and other countries 
lowered their prices to become more competitive. China did 
not reduce, but in fact raised prices in 1983. 

Although China's share of the U.S. market fell slightly 
in 1984, the actual tonnage of metallurgical-grade imports 
increased. The good quality of Chinese products should in- 
sure a continuing place in world markets. China is expected 
to adjust to world pricing strategies soon, and other pro- 
ducers will need to raise prices in the near future if the 
marginal ones intend to continue to operate. 



Table 9.— Annual production of fluorspar for Thailand, 
1979-83 (27) 

) 3 mt: 

e 

ical-grade . . . 

'Estimated. 

'Updated information provided by G. Kinney. 





1979 


1980 


1981 


1982 


1983 


Production, 10 3 mt: 

Acid-grade 


.... 57 


60 
173 


55 
157 


81 
160 


'47 


Metallurgical-grade .... 


.... 178 


'160 


Total 


.... 235 


233 


212 


241 


'207 




LEGEND 

• Cities 

^ Mines 
M X Metallurgies mill 
*X Acid mill 
® Acid mill and mine 



Figure 6.— Fluorspar mines and mills located in Thailand. 



Thailand 

Fluorspar is produced in Thailand from deposits in 
three general areas: the northern sector, including Mae 
Hong Son and Lamphun Provinces; the middle sector of 
Kanchanaburi, Ratchaburi and Phetchaburi Provinces; and 
the southern sector in Krabi Province. Figure 6 shows the 
locations of these properties. 

There are two fluorspar mills producing acid-grade con- 
centrates, Krabi International Fluorite Co. (KIF), also 
known as SK Minerals, and Thai Fluorite Processing Co. 
(TFP). KIF's mill is immediately adjacent to its ore source. 



TFP, on the other hand, receives half its ore from its own 
mine Tao Dam and the other half from about 20 mines 
located 50 to 200 km away. 

Two companies produce most of the metallurgical-grade 
fluorspar in Thailand. These are United Fluorite Mining Co. 
(UFM), which has two active mines in Kanchanaburi Prov- 
ince, and Universal Mining Co. (UMC), also with two active 
mines. UMC also produces metallurgical-grade fluorspar via 
heavy media separation -from old mine dumps in the north- 
ern sector at Mae Tha. Dumps in this once-important mining 
area contain substantial amounts of unrecovered fluorspar. 



12 



All of Thailand's fluorspar production is exported. Main 
destination points are Japan, India, Australia, Republic of 
Korea, Taiwan, and the U.S.S.R., with small amounts going 
to the Netherlands and Federal Republic of Germany. 
China's entry into the world market has affected Thailand, 
in that much of Japan's trade has recently shifted to China. 
Thailand has had to cultivate other clients, notably the 
U.S.S.R., and ties with Australia and India are also improv- 
ing. 

Thailand's share of world production has averaged 
around 5 pet since 1979 (table 6). As shown in table 9, most 
of this tonnage (65 pet) has been in the form of 
metallurgical-grade -products. Thailand's output increased 
in 1982 to 241,000 mt, the highest level since 1979. This 
coupled with lower world production levels allowed 
Thailand's share to increase to 5.6 pet. However, due in part 
to the world oversupply of fluorspar in 1982, production 
dropped to 207,000 mt in 1983, or a 4.8-pct share. 

Thailand's fairly constant production levels over a 
number of years indicate its reliability as a supplier. 
Although defined resources should be depleted before 1990, 
exploration programs have been at a low level. The high 
number of past and present mines discovered by chance sug- 
gests the good possibility of significant resources being 
outlined through organized exploration. Therefore, the cur- 
rently low reported resources should not be mistaken to in- 
dicate Thailand is "running out of ore." Resources still need 
to be defined, however, to assure buyers that Thailand will 
be able to meet future obligations. 

EUROPE 

The following section includes a brief discussion of the 
fluorspar properties evaluated in Europe. Operations in the 
Federal Republic of Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the 
United Kingdom are presented. Historic fluorspar produc- 
tion figures for each country over the years 1979-83 are 
compared with world totals. Figure 7 shows the locations of 
the 18 properties evaluated. 

Federal Republic of Germany 

Two companies in the Federal Republic of Germany 
(FRG) were surveyed, Fluss-und Schwerspatwerke Pfor- 
zheim GmbH (FSP), a subsidiary of Bayer AG; and 
Sachtleben Bergbau GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of 
Metallgesellschaft AG. FSP operates a fluorspar mine 
called Kaefersteige, and an associated flotation mill. 
Sachtleben Bergbau operates the Clara fluorspar-barite 
mine and a flotation mill located about 13 km away. 
Although mines have been operated in its area of the Black 
Forest since the 1400's, fluorspar was not discovered in the 
hanging wall of the Clara barite vein until the 1970's. 

As seen in table 6, West Germany's production of 
fluorspar has slowed since 1982; however, greater 
decreases in world production levels resulted in a slightly 
higher percentage share of the world market for 1982 and 
1983. Most of the fluorspar concentrates produced in West 
Germany are consumed domestically, and over half is pro- 
duced for Bayer's HF plant in Leverkusen. 

France 

There were five operations producing fluorspar concen- 
trates in France at the time of the site visit in 1983. All are 




LEGEND 
• Cities 
£ Mines 
X Mill sites 
(§) Minesand mills 



Figure 7.— European fluorspar operations. 

vein deposits, two of which are mined from open pits, three 
from underground operations. All but the Rossignol Mine 
are controlled by subsidiaries of Pechiney, a Government- 
owned chemical and manufacturing complex. 

France also has one of the world's largest undeveloped 
resources located in the Morvan Regional Park. The Morvan 
is a well-known scenic area, and environmental concerns 
have slowed development of the estimated 17 million mt of 
demonstrated resources located in near-surface stratiform 
deposits (39). 

Production from vein mines has supplied France for 
many years, but additional resources will have to be brought 
into production if the country hopes to maintain its self- 
sufficiency in fluorspar. The immense resources of the Mor- 
van District could meet this need, and possibly produce 
enough to allow France to become a major exporter for the 
world fluorspar market (4). 

Table 10.— Annual production of fluorspar for France, 
1979-83 (27) 





1979 


1980 


1981 


1982 


1983 


Production, 10 3 mt: 

Acid-grade 


157 


159 
99 

258 


169 
87 

256 


161 
82 

243 


160 


Metallurgical-grade .... 
Total 


102 

.... 259 


80 
240 



France's production of fluorspai as compared with the 
world total is shown in table 6. Depletion of several vein 
operations over the last few years is evident in decreased 
production levels, particularly for metallurgical grades. (See 
table 10.) The depressed fluorspar market of the 1980's has 
allowed France to keep its percentage of world production. 
Most of France's production is used domestically, with some 
metallurgical-grade gravel exported, primarily to the steel 
mills in West Germany. Virtually all acid-grade concentrate 
produced by the operations used in this evaluation is con- 
sumed at the Pechiney HF plant in Ales. 



13 



France has been able to meet its fluorspar needs and is a 
small net exporter of fluorspar concentrates. The long- 
reliable vein mines will be nearing depletion by the early 
1990's and other resources, such as those of the Morvan 
District, will need to be developed. Environmental concerns 
will have to be overcome prior to development of the Mor- 
van deposits. 

Italy 

Three properties, including two undeveloped deposits, 
were evaluated in Italy. Mineraria Silius S.p.A. is the 
operating company, with several vein mines and a flotation 
plant at Assemini, near Cagliari, Sardinia, jointly owned 
with Alcoa and Bayer. Silius also controls mining conces- 
sions near Domusnovas, Sardinia, where it is considering 
extracting fluorspar from old iron ore workings. The other 
proposed operation is the Pianciano deposit located north of 
Rome, in central Italy, controlled by Southland Mining Co. 
of Australia. 

The majority of the Silius products are exported to loca- 
tions in the United States and Europe, although two sub- 
sidiaries of Mineraria Silius consume about 45 pet of the 
acid-grade to make aluminum fluoride and synthetic 
cryolite. Lead byproducts are smelted domestically by 
SAMIM. Development of the two proposed operations will 
depend upon a stronger fluorspar market and improved 
processing techniques for Pianciano ore. 

Fluorspar production from Italy is compared with the 
world total in table 6. Production from the Mineraria Silius 
operation slowed from the 1979 high in response to the 
depressed fluorspar market. Acid-grade production levels 
dipped in 1980 and then returned to normal by 1982. (See 
table 11). Substantial domestic consumption of acid-grade 
concentrates provided shelter from the worldwide 
slowdown; however, metallurgical production has remained 
slow and ceramic production has ceased. As illustrated in 
table 6, Italy's share of world production averages between 
3 and 4 pet of the total. Over half of Italy's production is ex- 
ported to the United States, Europe, and the U.S.S.R. 

Italy's two undeveloped resources could be brought into 
production if market conditions warrant an increase in pro- 
duction. Silius could hold the Domusnovas operation out of 
development until its other mining concessions are depleted, 
thus utilizing the same flotation mill at Assemini and 
avoiding the cost of a second mill. This would assure Silius 
of a long-term ore supply suitable for acid-grade fluorspar 
concentrates. 

The Pianciano deposit will most likely be developed as a 
source of metallurgical-grade fluorspar. Difficulties in mill- 
ing this ore preclude the production of acid-grade concen- 
trates at the present time. Improvements in the world 
economy, the steel industry in particular, would need to oc- 
cur before this operation will be seriously considered. 



Spain 

Fluorspar is mined from four districts: Gijon, Collada, 
and Caravia, located in Asturias Province in northern 
Spain, and the Orgiva District, located in Granada near the 
southern coast. There are three major fluorspar companies 
in Spain, each with a single flotation mill fed by several 
mines: Fluoruros S.A., Minerales y Productos Derivados 
S.A. (Minersa), and Minas de Orgiva (Minor). The Pinzales 
mill is operated by Fluoruros; Minersa operates the 



Table 11.— Annual production of fluorspar for Italy, 
1979-83 (27) 



1979 15 



1981 1982 1983 e 



Production, 10 3 mt: 

Acid-grade 134 125 129 134 130 

Metallurgical-grade 42 26 35 33 30 

Ceramic-grade - 7 1 

Total 183 152 164 167 160" 

■"Estimated. 



Ribadesella mill; and the Orgiva mill was closed by Minor in 
1983 because of labor disputes. For this evaluation, it was 
assumed that Orgiva resumed production in 1985, as there 
are adequate resources for future production. 

Fluorspar production from Spain has tapered 
downward from the high of 1981, and despite decreases in 
world production levels, Spain has not maintained its share 
of world production, dropping from 5.4 to 4.3 pet (table 6). 
Most of its production is exported to the United States, 
Western Europe, and the U.S.S.R., with only minor 
amounts consumed domestically. 

The depressed world fluorspar market and the closure 
at Orgiva has taken its toll on the Spanish fluorspar in- 
dustry. As of 1983, the other two companies were operating 
at reduced rates, generally about 80 pet of capacity. Both 
Fluoruros and Minersa have undertaken drilling programs 
and have begun development on additional resources. It is 
estimated that production could remain steady over the 
next 20 yr with possible increases available, if the market 
improves. 

United Kingdom 

Only two companies remain as producers of acid-grade 
fluorspar in the United Kingdom: Minworth Ltd. and 
Laporte Minerals. A total of three mills are operating (a 
fourth mill owned by Dresser is closed, with no plans for 
future production). Fluorspar is mined in the North and 
South Pennine ore fields, from which a percentage of the 
fluorspar ore actually comes from old mine dumps and stope 
fillings of lead mines that date back to Roman times. Min- 
worth produces a lead concentrate, and Laporte produces 
aggregate, barite, and lead concentrates in addition to acid- 
grade fluorspar concentrates. 

Fluorspar production from the United Kingdom in 1982 
dropped 57 pet from its high in 1980 (table 6), but was ex- 
pected to increase in 1983 as a result of the 1982 takeover 
by Minworth of the failing SAMUK and British Steel opera- 
tions. The United Kingdom fluorspar production rate 
dropped to a low of 2.3 pet of the world total, but it may ex- 
ceed 4 pet in 1983 with the resumption of previous produc- 
tion levels at Minworth's operations. Most U.K. production 
is consumed domestically by Id's Mond Division in 
Cheshire and by Laporte's chemical plants in Rotherham. 

The takeover of SAMUK and British Steel by Minworth 
Ltd. breathed new life into the British fluorspar industry. 
Consolidation of facilities and resources has allowed Min- 
worth to produce fluorspar more efficiently in the North 
Pennine ore fields. Resources in this area are sufficiently 
defined to insure production beyond the year 2000. 

In addition to its own operations, Laporte Minerals has 
acquired the Dresser mill and mines, and plans to study 
resource potential from these properties, though it does not 
plan to operate the mill. Although resources are poorly 
defined in the South Pennine ore field, a 5-yr "rule of thumb" 
resource has been kept for years, and depletion is not an- 
ticipated in the near future. 



14 



NORTH AMERICA 

The following section includes a brief discussion of the 
fluorspar properties evaluated in North America. Opera- 
tions in Mexico and the United States are presented, and 
historic production figures for each country over the years 
1979-83 are discussed. Although Canada has not produced 
fluorspar since the late 1970's, recent interest has been 
shown in two properties. Information on the sites in New- 
foundland and British Columbia was not available at the 
time site selections were made for this study; therefore, 
economic evaluations were not performed. 



Canada 

Minworth Ltd. of the United Kingdom is looking into 
resuming production at the St. Lawrence fluorspar mines in 
Newfoundland that were abandoned by Alcan in 1977. Pro- 
posed production could begin as early as 1986, and 
resources are reported at 80 million mt {1J+). The second 
property, held by Eaglet Mines Ltd., is located near 
William's Lake in central British Columbia. Approximately 
20 million mt of low-grade (11.5 pet CaF 2 ) ore has been 
outlined by drilling. The deposit also appears to contain 
recoverable quantities of silver, molybdenum, lead, and zinc. 
This deposit could be developed in the late 1980's, with 
potential markets primarily in Canada and the United 
States HO). 

Mexico 

Eight mining operations, including 10 mines and 8 flota- 
tion mills, were evaluated in Mexico. Figure 8 shows the 
locations of the properties. Minera San Francisco del Oro 
S.A. and Zinc de Mexico S.A. produce acid-grade fluorspar 
concentrates from reprocessed tailings. The operations in- 
cluded represent the majority of fluorspar produced and 
available for export. Difficult market conditions have 
plagued the Mexican fluorspar industry since 1982, 
resulting in the closure of El Refugio mine and mill and 
severe cutbacks at most of the other operations. 

Mexico's fluorspar resources are vast. Although 
reported in situ reserves are only 17.5 million mt, most of 
the resources have cutoff grades of 50 to 60 pet CaF 2 , which 
is considerably greater than the average in situ ore grade in 
most other countries. Mexico currently has sufficient 
reserves defined to maintain production beyond the year 
2000. 

Between 1974 and January 1984, the prices for 
fluorspar exported from Mexico were established by the 
Mexican Fluorspar Institute. As South Africa, Morocco, 
and China began supplying the United States with lower 
priced fluorspar, despite the longer transportation 
distances, Mexico found itself being priced out of the 
market. 

Mexico's set prices were used as an effective umbrella 
for other nations wishing to increase their share of the 
fluorspar market, and they simply underbid the Mexican set 
price (32). Mexican pricing of metallurgical-grade was 
especially good for the Chinese, enabling them to enter the 
U.S. market in 1980. China was able to produce inexpensive 
fluorspar and could afford to greatly undercut Mexico's 
prices, as well as the fluorspar prices of other nations. 

Since eliminating the price structures in 1984, Mexican 
producers have reduced their fluorspar prices in a hid to 




* Mints 

X Mill SUM 

® Mir»« and mill. 



Figure 8.— Fluorspar operations in Mexico. 

regain their major consumer, the United States. Although 
Mexican producers have the advantage of naturally high 
grade fluorspar, they have disadvantages including arsenic 
impurities in some acid-grade concentrates, high-cost vein 
mines, and older port facilities. In order to stay competitive 
in coming years, Mexico will need to improve its transporta- 
tion industries to keep up with improvements being made in 
other countries. 

In 1982, the overall slump in the world steel, aluminum, 
and chemical industries along with fixed prices caused pro- 
duction to drop significantly. (See table 6.) Mexico's percen- 
tage of world production fell from a high of 19.2 pet in 1981 
to 14.8 pet for 1982, with even lower levels estimated for 
1983. Surplus production from 1982 caused reduced output 
levels to remain in 1983. 

The amount of Mexican fluorspar imported by the 
United States for domestic consumption is shown in table 
12. Mexico is the largest U.S. supplier of fluorspar, and the 
loss of U.S. consumers to European, African, and Chinese 
producers resulted in severe cutbacks in production at most 
operations in 1982-83 and the closure of the Rio Colorado 
operation, El Refugio. Oversupply and the downturn in ma- 
jor fluorspar consuming industries have slowed plans for ex- 
pansions, and in fact have caused reductions at most opera- 
tions. Las Cuevas, the largest producer in Mexico, only 
shipped concentrates from stockpiled ore in 1983. Although 
U.S. imports from Mexcio of metallurgical grades decreased 
in 1983, overall U.S. imports were down even more, and 
Mexico's share of the U.S. market increased significantly, 
from a low of 40 pet to over 64 pet. U.S. import tonnages in- 
creased from 40,000 mt to 106,000 mt metallurgical-grade 
fluorspar in 1984, but Mexico's market share dropped 
slightly. 

United States 

Ozark-Mahoning owns the only domestic operation cur- 
rently producing acid-grade fluorspar concentrates. Its An- 
nabel! Lee, Barnett, Denton and Henson mines are all 



15 



Table 12.— Annual U.S. Imports from Mexico and the world, 1980-84 (25-27) 



1980 



1981 



1982 



1983 



1984 



More than 97 pet CaF 2 : 

Total U.S. imports mt . . 577,953 

From Mexico: 

Imports mt . . 294,997 

Pet of total 51.1 

Not more than 97 pet CaF 2 : 

Total U.S. imports mt . . 273,939 

From Mexico: 

Imports mt.. 199,467 

Pet of total 83.8 



517,882 



370,135 



349,320 



473,027 



248,886 
48.1 


133,493 
36.1 


158,832 
45.4 


205,722 
43.5 


232,011 


123,022 


61,836 


165,341 


198,776 
85.7 


48,804 
39.7 


39,727 

64.2 


105,507 
63.8 



I - Henson 




9- Lasher Project 


2-Barnett 




10- Alley 


3-Denton 




ll-NE Klondike 


4- Annabel I Lee 




12- Bobb- Barnes 


5- Spivey 




13- Reynold* Metal 


6-Minerva No I 




14-Latoyette 


7-Campbtll-Crotwr 




IS- Marble 


8-Crlttenden-Block 


Wright 


16- Vinson 




Figure 9.— Fluorspar properties in the Eastern United States. 



located in southeastern Illinois and feed one mill. The Hastie 
Trucking and Mining Co. operates relatively small mining 
ventures near Cave-In-Rock, IL. Its product is sold as 
metallurgical grade or used to supplement the feed material 
of the Ozark-Mahoning mill. The Hastie operations were not 
included in this evaluation, owing to the insignificant 
fluorspar resources reported. 

Two small producers of metallurgical-grade fluorspar 
are located in Nevada and Texas. J. Irving Crowell, Jr. and 
Sons operates the Crowell-Daisy mine in Nye County, NV, 
and sells its sized, run-of-mine ore to a local cement plant. D 
& F Minerals Co. operates the Piasano mine near Alpine, 
TX, and sells its run-of-mine ore to a local fluorspar ore 
buyer. Imported acid-grade concentrates are dried by In- 
verness Mining at the Minerva mill in Illinois and by the 
Oglebay-Norton Co. at Brownsville, TX. 

A pilot plant operation at Kraken Hill, near Challis, ID, 
has produced minor quantities of ceramic-grade fluorspar, 
but its resources were only inferred; therefore, it was not in- 
cluded in the analyses. Kraken Hill neighbors the Bayhorse 
deposit, which has much larger drill-proven resources but is 
presently not economically viable. Products from Idaho as 
well as other Western States face great transportation costs 
to reach market areas of the Gulf Coast, Los Angeles, or 
Chicago. 




LEGEND 
X Property sites 



Figure 10.— Fluorspar properties in the Western United States. 



All other domestic operations evaluated were either 
past producers or undeveloped deposits with no immediate 
plans for development. For these reasons, and the fact that 
all had estimated average total costs above domestic pro- 
ducer prices, only the six properties with economic reserves 
in Illinois, Texas, and Nevada were compared with other 
world properties. 

Locations of the 36 domestic properties originally 
evaluated are shown in figures 9 and 10. Fluorspar proper- 
ties located in the eastern half of the United States are 
shown in figure 9, figure 10 shows those in the Western 
United States. 

While the United States averages less than 2 pet of 
world production, it is the largest consumer among the 
MEC's. As illustrated in table 6, the small production 
percentage for the United States indicates that it must im- 
port most of its needs. A small amount of U.S. fluorspar is 
exported, primarily to Canada. In 1984, 11,100 mt were ex- 
ported, of which 10,800 mt went to Canada. 

In 1984, the United States imported 473,000 mt of 
fluorspar concentrates containing more than 97 pet CaF 2 
(acid-grade). Table 13 illustrates U.S. imports of fluorspar 



16 



Table 13.— U.S. imports of fluorspar for consumption, by country, 1981-84 (26-27) 

1981 1982 1983 1984 

Country 10 3 mt pet 10 3 mt pet 10 3 mt pet 10 3 mt pet 

CONTAINING MORE THAN 97 PCT CaF 2 

China 6 T6 5 Ta 

Denmark 4 1.2 

Italy 31 6.0 37 9.9 34 9.7 56 11.8 

Mexico 249 48.2 133 35.7 159 45.5 206 43.6 

Morocco 12 3.2 18 5.2 

South Africa, Republic of 213 41.2 146 39.1 103 29.5 177 37.4 

Spain 24 4^5 39 105 26 7Ji 34 7.2 

Total 517 100 373 100 349 100 473 100 

CONTAINING NOT MORE THAN 97 PCT CaF 2 

China 23 9$ 72 58! 22 35! 57 34~! 

Mexico 199 85.8 49 39.8 40 64.5 106 63.9 

South Africa, Republic of 10 4.3 2 1.6 3 1.8 

Total 232 100 123 100 62 100 16! 100 

Note.— Data may not add to totals shown because of independent rounding. 

by country for 1981-84. Imports dropped considerably after to 25 pet ($30/mt) to secure portions of the U.S. market that 

1981 (517,000 mt), and in 1982 changes in source countries formerly belonged to Mexico and South Africa, 

emerged, as Italy, Spain, and Morocco took advantage of Metallurgical imports from China were down to 35.8 pet in 

reduced freight rates and high price levels set by the Mex- 1983, but remained steady in 1984 at 34.3 pet. Although im- 

ican Fluorspar Institute. ports from Mexico dropped in 1982 and 1983, its share of 

Although 1982 European published prices were similar the dwindling U.S. market increased to over 64 pet in 1983. 

to Mexico's set prices, spot prices from European producers Improvements in the U.S. market resulted in 106,000 mt 

were lower. U.S. imports of acid-grade concentrates from metallurgical grades being imported in 1984. 

the Republic of South Africa also dropped in 1982. A much The overall decline in consumption of fluorspar can be 

larger drop was seen in 1983 as Mexico reduced its prices followed through the Chinese export statistics. China ex- 

and regained market shares to the detriment of South ported 23,000 mt in 1981, accounting for 10 pet of U.S. im- 

Africa. Abandonment of the Mexican pricing structure in ports of metallurgical-grade fluorspar, but the 22,000 mtex- 

1984 also helped Mexico's position, but neither Mexico nor ported from China in 1983 made up nearly 36 pet of U.S. im- 

South Africa has been able to fully regain its share of the ports. As U.S. consumption picked up in 1984, increased 

U.S. acid-grade market. Italy has continued to improve its Chinese exports of 57,000 mt represented only 34 pet of the 

position, and Spain has been able to maintain its higher U.S. import total, 

share. The United States is the largest consumer of all grades 

In 1983, imports of fluorspar concentrates containing of fluorspar among the MEC's. However, it presently im- 

not more than 97 pet CaF 2 (primarily metallurgical grades) ports 90 pet of its needs, as only one major producer, Ozark- 

dropped to 27 pet of the 1981 level, from 232,000 mt to only Mahoning, continues to produce acid-grade concentrates. 

62,000 mt. This drop reflects the shutdown of a number of The current depressed state of the world market has pro- 

U.S. steel mills over the same time period. Although 1984 vided lower prices for imports, and the source countries 

saw an increase to 166,000 mt (72 pet of the 1981 level), con- have shifted with changing prices. Major suppliers include 

tinuing steel mill closures make it unlikely that the Mexico, China, South Africa, Spain, Italy, and Morocco, 

metallurgical-grade market will make a full comeback to the Domestic reserves are small, and production covers only 

highs of the 1970's. about 10 pet of U.S. demands. Aside from the Ozark- 

The United States has drastically changed its source Mahoning operations, and a few other small operations sell- 
countries for lower grade concentrates since 1981, when ing run-of-mine ore, most domestic resources are contained 
Chinese imports became a significant factor; China moved in mines and deposits where low-grade ores and/or long 
from supplying 10 pet of U.S. imports in 1981 to 58.4 pet in distances to market areas make them marginal to 
1982. China underbid 1982 metallurgical-grade prices by up subeconomic. 



GENERAL GEOLOGY 



Fluorite occurs in a wide variety of geological en- 
vironments, which indicates that deposition takes place in a 
number of different ways. Deposit specific geological infor- 
mation may be found in the appendix B section for each 
country. Ten different modes of occurrence of fluorspar are 
described below (13): 

1. Fissure vein deposits commonly occur along faults or shear 
zones and are the most readily recognized form of fluorspar occur- 
rence in the world. Although the vein structure may be persistent, 
the fluorspar mineralization commonly occurs as lenses or ore 
shoots separated by barren zones. Fissure veins occur in igneous, 
metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks. 



2. Stratiform, manto, or bedded deposits occur as replacements 
in carbonate rocks. Some beds are replaced adjacent to structural 
features such as joints and faults. In frequent instances, there is a 
capping of sandstone, shale, or clay. 

3. Replacement deposits in carbonate rocks along the contact 
with acidic igneous intrusives are another common type of deposit. 
Deposits do not have to be the result of contact metamorphism, but 
may be introduced later, following the contact zone as a conduit and 
replacing the limestone. 

4. Stockworks and fillings in shear and breccia zones are 
another form in which fluorspar occurs. The Buffalo deposit in the 
Transvaal consists of a network of fluorspar veinlets in sill-like 
bodies that are inclusions in the granite of the Bushveld complex. 



17 



Country 

China: 

Da Gai Tang 

De An District 

Hei Shao Tou 

Hong An District 

Pong Lai Mining District . . 

Wu Yi District 

France: 

Escaro 

Fontsante 

Le Burc 

Montroc 

Morvan District 

Rossignol 

Germany, Federal Republic of: 

Clara 

Kaefersteige 

Italy: 

Domusnovas 

Mineraria Silius 

Pianciano 

Kenya: Kenya Fluorspar Co. Ltd. 
Mexico: 

El Realito (Rio Verde) 

El Refugio (Rio Colorado) . 

Fluorita De Mexico S.A. . . . 

La Domincia S.A. de C.V. . 

Las Cuevas 

Minas De Navidad 

San Francisco del Oro ... 

Zinc de Mexico 

Morocco: El Hammam 

Namibia: Okorusu 



Table 14.— Fluorspar 

Deposit type 

Fissure vein. 
Replacement. 
Fissure vein. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Stratiform. 
Fissure vein. 

Do. 

Do. 
Fissure vein, stratiform. 
Fissure vein. 

Do. 
Do. 

Replacement. 

Fissure vein. 

Lake sediments. 

Fissure vein, replacement. 

Replacement. 

Do. 
Stratiform. 
Replacement. 

Do. 
Fissure vein. 
Gangue mineral. 

Do. 
Fissure vein. 

Carbonite and alkalic rock 
complexes. 



deposits and deposit type' 

Country 

South Africa, Republic of: 

Buffalo Fluorspar 

Kruidfontein 

Marico Fluorspar 

Transvaal Fluorspar 

Vergenoeg 

Witkop 

Spain: 

Fluoruros 

Gijon Area 

Mina Ana 

Minas de Orgiva (Minor) 

Thailand: 

Mae La Luang 

Mae Tha District 

Phanom Thuan 

Salak Pra 

SK Minerals 

Takien Ngam 

Tao Dam Mine, Thaivat Mining Co. 

Tunisia: Hammam Zriba 

United Kingdom: 

Blackdene Mines 



Broadwood Mines 



Derbyshire Deposits 
United States: 

Annabell Lee 

Barnett 

Denton 

Henson 

La Piasano 

Nye Crowell 



Deposit type 

Stockworks. 

Do. 
Replacement. 

Do. 
Stockworks. 
Replacement. 

Stratiform, fissure vein. 

Do. 
Stratiform. 

Do. 

Fissure vein. 

Do. 
Replacement. 
Fissure vein. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 
Stratiform. 

Fissure vein, stratiform, 

dump material. 
Fissure vein, stratiform, 
dump material, stope fill. 
Stratiform. 

Stratiform, replacement. 
Fissure vein. 
Stratiform, replacement. 
Fissure vein. 
Replacement vein. 
Do. 



'Table does not include domestic deposits not classified as reserves. 



5. Carbonatite and alkalic rock complexes may have fluorspar 
at their margins. Fluorspar grades are not usually sufficient to be 
economic, but the Okorusu deposit in Namibia is made up of a 
number of bodies of fluorspar in limestones, quartzites, and related 
rocks which have been intruded and metamorphosed by an alkaline 
igneous rock complex. 

6. Residual deposits of fluorspar are formed in clayey and san- 
dy residuum that results from surficial weathering of fluorspar 
veins and replacement deposits. These deposits may be the sources 
of metallurgical-grade fluorspar. They include detritial deposits 
blanketing the apex of veins and the upper portions of the veins 
themselves that have been deeply weathered to depths of 100 ft or 
more. 

7. Fluorspar may also occur as a major gangue mineral in lead 
and zinc veins. Two operations in the Parral area of Mexico are 
treating the tailings of lead-zinc mines to recover fluorspar from 
previously discarded gangue minerals. 



8. Breccia pipes may contain fluorspar in economic quantities. 

9. Fillings in open spaces of veins or stratiform deposits may be 
filled with fluorspar. 

10. Fluorspar may occur in unconsolidated clayey and sandy 
pyroclastic sediments in the beds of former lakes. The Pianciano 
deposit near Rome, Italy, is an example of this type. Fluorine from 
igneous sources permeated the lake sediments and is present as 
finely disseminated crystals. 

Deposits containing economic concentrations of 
fluorspar are located on every continent, but the major pro- 
ducing operations are located in Mexico, Republic of South 
Africa, China, Spain, Italy, Kenya, Morocco, Thailand, 
United Kingdom, U.S.S.R., Mongolia, and the United 
States. Table 14 shows the known deposit type for the 
reserves included in this evaluation. 



WORLD FLUORSPAR RESERVES AND RESOURCES 



PRIMARY FLUORSPAR 

For this study, cost estimates and analyses were per- 
formed on demonstrated tonnages only, which include 
measured plus indicated resources. Reserves, defined as 
economically recoverable material at the demonstrated 
level, total 97 million mt for the properties evaluated. The 
reserve base (contained fluorspar at the demonstrated level) 
for all evaluated properties totals 156 million mt. Domestic 
in situ reserves of 771,000 mt include five operations cur- 
rently in production plus the Annabell Lee operation, which 
began production in late 1984; the reserve base totals 33 
million mt. Evaluated reserves and resources are listed by 
country in table 15; a listing by property is given in table 16. 



Demonstrated in situ ore resources for the 36 domestic 
and 50 foreign properties total 555 million mt at an average 
grade of 28 pet CaF 2 . The in situ identified tonnages are 
defined to include measured plus indicated plus inferred 
resources that are economic, marginally economic, and 
subeconomic {1^2). The contained columns for demonstrated 
and identified resources can be arrived at by multiplying the 
percentage grade of CaF 2 by the in situ tonnage. The con- 
tained value is the equivalent of 100 pet CaF 2 . 

All foreign resources, including undeveloped deposits, 
were found to be economic to marginally economic at 
published January 1984 prices; thus, the recoverable column 
on tables 15 and 16 are considered reserves. At the highest 
cost operations, average total costs ranged up to 5 pet above 



18 



Table 15.— Fluorspar reserves and resources, by country, 1984 

Demonstrated Identified 

Country and property name In situ CaF 2 Contained Recoverable In situ CaF 2 Contained 

ore, 10 3 mt grade, pet CaF 2 , 10 3 mt CaF 2 10 3 mt ore, 10 3 mt grade, pet CaF 2 10 3 mt 

China 36,216 63 22,805 17,411 71,927 61 43,916 

France 21,130 42 8,809 7,097 31,536 42 13,266 

Germany, Federal Republic of ... W W W W W W W 

Italy 17,851 41 7,280 6,321 36,760 37 13,605 

Kenya 5,950 45 2,678 2,261 46,200 41 18,896 

Mexico 33,965 64 21,701 17,574 90,688 40 36,598 

Morocco W W W W W W W 

Namibia 7,879 50 3,940 2,963 8,209 51 4,178 

South Africa, Republic of 167,766 22 37,224 29,508 300,457 25 74,627 

Spain 26,512 33 8,758 6,697 52,431 32 16,736 

Thailand 3,329 47 1,552 1,139 5,443 50 2,705 

Tunisia W W W W W W W 

United Kingdom 6,668 40 2,650 2,077 19,275 37 7,128 

United States: 

Reserves' 2,072 41 843 771 4,665 24 1,107 

Other 2 211,131 15 32,473 3 NAp 409,381 13 54,955 

Total or average 223,204 15 33,316 771 414,046 14 56,062 

Total or average 555,207 28 155,517 96,783 1,099,558 27 294,539 

NAp Not applicable. W Withheld to avoid disclosing company proprietary data; included in totals. 
'Fluorspar reserves (economic) for 6 properties in Illinois, Nevada, and Texas. 

2 Other includes Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, New Mexico, Nevada, Tennessee, and Utah properties determined to be 
uneconomical at a breakeven (0-pct) DCFROR. 
Recoverable fluorspar (i.e., reserves for this evaluation) not applicable for uneconomic resources. 



Table 16.— Fluorspar reserves and resources, by property, 1984 



Demonstrated 



Identified 



Country and property name 



In situ 
ore, 10 3 mt 



CaF 2 
grade, pet 



Contained 
CaF,, 10 3 mt 



Recoverable 
CaF 2 10 3 mt 



In situ 
ore, 10 3 mt 



CaF 2 
grade, pet 



Contained 
CaF 2 10 3 mt 



China: 

Da Gai Tang Mine W 

De An District W 

Hei Shao Tou Mine W 

Hong An District W 

Pong Lai Mining District W 

Wu Yi District W 

Total or average 36,216 

France: 

Escaro W 

Fontsante 380 

Le Burc W 

Montroc W 

Morvan District 17,000 

Rossignol 1 ,500 

Total or average 

Germany, Federal Republic of 

Clara 

Kaefersteige 

Total or average 

Italy: 

Domusnovas 

Mineraria Silius 

Pianciano 

Total or average 

Kenya: Kenya Fluorspar Co. . 

Mexico: 

El Realito (Rio Verde) W 

El Refugio (Rio Colo.) W 

Fluorita de Mexico W 

La Domincia 2,015 

Las Cuevas 14,059 

Minas de Navidad 638 

San Francisco del Oro 5,802 

Zinc de Mexico 2,592 

Total or average 33,965 

Morocco: El Hamman W 

Namibia: Okorusu 7,879 

South Africa, Republic of: 

Buffalo Fluorspar 31,623 

Kruidfontein W 

Marico Fluorspar 28,000 

Transvaal Fluorspar 27,000 

Vergenoeg W 

Witkop 28,913 

Total or average 167,766 



W 
W 
W 
W 
W 
W 



63 



W 
44 
W 
W 
37 
69 



W 
W 
W 
68 
85 
50 
14 
18 



64 
W 
50 



14 
W 
17 
21 
W 
22 



W 
W 
W 
W 
W 
W 



W 
W 
W 
W 

w 
w 



22,805 



17,411 



W 
167 

W 

w 

6,205 
1,036 



W 

147 

W 

W 

4,896 

861 



w 


W 


w 


w 


w 


w 


1,368 


1,108 


11,950 


10,255 


319 


196 


835 


437 


454 


293 


21,701 


17,574 


W 


W 



3,940 



2,936 



4,427 
W 

4,760 

5,670 
W 

6,419 



4,044 
W 

3,539 

3.529 
W 

4,366 



W 
W 
W 
W 
W 
W 



71,927 



W 

496 

W 

W 

25,500 

2,040 



W 

w 
w 

3,870 

19,900 

700 

8,630 
46,246 



90,688 

W 

8,209 



45,500 
W 

28,000 

60,000 
W 

34,457 



W 
W 
W 
W 
W 
W 



61 



W 
44 
W 
W 
37 
69 



W 
W 

w 

68 
85 
50 
15 
14 



40 

W 
51 



13 
W 
17 
20 
W 
22 



W 

w 
w 
w 
w 
w 



43,916 



W 

218 

W 

w 

9,308 
1,410 



21,130 


42 


8,809 


7,097 


31,536 


42 


13,266 


W 
W 


W 
W 


W 
W 


W 
W 


W 
W 


W 

w 


W 
W 


W 


W 


W 


W 


W 


w 


W 


W 

W 

7,780 


W 

w 

44 


W 

W 

3,414 


W 

W 

3,017 


W 

W 

15,260 


w 
w 

34 


W 

W 

5,202 


17,851 
5,950 


41 
41 


7,280 
2,678 


6,321 
2,261 


36,760 
46,200 


37 

41 


13,605 
18,896 



w 
w 
w 

2.628 

16,915 

350 

1,251 

6,474 



36,598 

W 

4,178 



5,779 
W 

4,760 

12,270 

W 

7,718 



22 



37,224 



29,508 



300,457 



25 



74,627 



19 



Table 16.— Fluorspar reserves and resources, by property, 1984— Continued 

Demonstrated Identified 

Country and property name In situ CaF 2 Contained Recoverable In situ CaF 2 Contained 

ore, 10 3 mt grade, pet CaF 2 , 10 3 mt CaF 2 10 3 mt ore, 10' mt grade, pet CaF 2 10' mt 

Spain: 

Fluoruros W W W W W W W 

Gijon Area W W W W W W W 

Mina Ana WW WW WW W 

Minas de Orgiva W W W W W W W_ 

Total or average 26,706 33 8,758 6,697 52,506 32 16,765 

Thailand: 

Mae La Luang 413 65 268 198 913 65 593 

Mae Tha 700 25 175 70 1,000 25 250 

Phanom Thuan 240 55 132 60 400 55 220 

Salak Pra 113 50 57 23 280 50 140 

SK Minerals 620 40 248 86 1,050 40 420 

Takien Ngam 625 65 419 502 1,400 65 910 

Thaivat Mining Co 618 43 266 201 400 43 172 

Total or average ~~ 3,329 47 1,552 1,139 5,443 50 2,705 

Tunisia: Hammam Zriba W W W W W W W 

United Kingdom: 

Blackdene mines WW WW WW W 

Broadwood mines WW WW WW W 

Derbyshire (La Porte) 2,381 595 370 7,380 1,845 

Total or average .... 

United States: 

Illinois, Nevada, Texas' 
Other 2 

Total or average .... 

Grand total or average 555,207 28 155,517 96,783 1,099,558 27 294,539 

NAp Not applicable. W Withheld to avoid disclosing company proprietary, included in totals. 
'Fluorspar reserves (economic) for evaluated properties. 

2 Other includes Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, New Mexico, Nevada, Tennessee, and Utah properties determined to be 
uneconomical at a breakeven (0-pct) DCFROR. 

'Recoverable fluorspar (i.e., reserves for this evaluation) not applicable for uneconomic resources. 



6,668 


40 


2,650 


2,077 


19,275 


37 


7,128 


2,072 
221,131 


41 
14 


843 
32,473 


771 
3 NAp 


4,665 
409,381 


24 
13 


1,107 
54,955 


223,204 


15 


33,316 


771 


414,046 


14 


56,062 



Table 17. — Classification of domestic fluorspar reserves and resources, 1984 

Demonstrated Identified 

Resource classification In situ CaF 2 Contained In situ CaF 2 Contained 

ore, 10 3 mt grade, pet CaF 2 , 10' mt ore, 10' mt grade, pet CaF 2 , 10' mt 

Reserves (economic):' 

Illinois, Nevada, Texas 2,073 40.70 843 4,665 23.74 1,107 

Resources (marginal to 
subeconomical): 2 

Arizona, Idaho 3,350 40.99 1,373 3,513 41.39 1,454 

Kentucky 4,959 31.36 1,555 5,809 31.24 1,815 

Nevada 151,856 10.26 15,584 319,980 10.24 32,764 

Tennessee, Illinois 27,560 25.21 6,947 41,459 25.31 10,494 

Total or average 187,725 13.56 25,459 370,761 12.55 46,527 

Other resources:' 

Alaska 25,396 16.16 4,104 25,396 16.16 4,104 

Colorado -. . . . 3,912 45.07 1,763 6,309 39.04 2,463 

Idaho, Utah '. 460 32.79 150 875 28.57 250 

Nevada 1,414 24.97 353 4,176 23.16 967 

New Mexico, Kentucky 1,864 34.55 644 1,864 34.55 644 

Total or average 33,406 21.22 7,014 38,620 21.82 8,428 

Grand total or average 223,204 14.93 4 33,316 414,046 13.54 56,062 

'Reserves defined as economically recoverable material. Actual U.S. reserves of 771,000 mt available at, or below, current market prices (see table 
3) at a breakeven (0-pct) DCFROR. 

2 Marginal to subeconomic resources defined as needing a market price greater than the current prices, but less than 1.5 times that price. For 
example, the long-run average total cost to produce acid grade fluorspar was below $256.50 (1.5 x $171/mt) at a breakeven (0-pct) DCFROR. 

'Other resources defined as those operations that would need greater than 1.5 times the current market price to cover the long-run average total 
cost of production. 

4 U.S. reserve base, defined as total contained fluorspar at the demonstrated level. 

the respective 1984 market prices. A number of domestic Those found to be marginally economic to subeconomic 
properties evaluated were determined to have average total (average total costs between 1.1 and 1.5 times 1984 pro- 
costs of production above (by at least 10 pet) the 1984 U.S. ducer prices) would not be able to compete with the large 
producer prices of $171/mt acid grade, $165/mt ceramic amount of foreign fluorspar available at considerably lower 
grade and $125/mt metallurgical grade. These properties prices. This situation hampers development plans for the 
are included in the U.S. reserve base but were not included majority of domestic fluorspar properties. As shown in table 
in the analyses of this report. 17, approximately 76 pet of the U.S. reserve base is included 
The domestic operations found to be uneconomic were in this category, or 25 million mt. The extremely low grades 
broken into two categories to better define their status. of these deposits and their remoteness from market areas 



20 




mt) 



Figure 11.— World fluorspar resources (411 million mt contain- 
ed CaF 2 ) for MEC's and CPEC's, showing portion of total 
resources evaluated. 

are the major drawbacks. The "Other Resources" category 
includes those operations determined to be subeconomic, 
having an average total cost of production greater than 1.5 
times the 1984 domestic fluorspar price at a breakeven 
DCFROR. "Other Resources" make up 21 pet of the 
domestic reserve base, with 7 million mt CaF 2 . 

According to the Bureau of Mines (29), fluorspar 
reserves for MEC's (including China) make up 67 pet of total 
world reserves; other CPEC's hold 33 pet. Reserves 
reported by the Bureau can be compared with the identified 
contained fluorspar data shown in this report. A total of 275 
million mt (303 million st) is reported for MEC countries and 
China; 238 million mt (87 pet) contained fluorspar is shown 
at the identified level on table 15 for properties evaluated as 



reserves (excluding U.S. resources). Figure 11 illustrates 
the MEC and CPEC resources and what portion was 
evaluated of the total 411 million mt (453 million st) 
reported by the Bureau (29). 

Three countries - South Africa, China, and Mex- 
ico-hold 67 pet of demonstrated reserves for the 14 coun- 
tries evaluated. Although South Africa appears to have a 
tremendous in situ ore resource (168 million mt, 1984), the 
average grade of 22 pet CaF 2 drops the contained fluorspar 
to only 37.2 million mt, and reserves are only 29.5 million 
mt. Mexico and China rank evenly in reserves (517 million 
mt) and in contained demonstrated resources (522 million 
mt). Both countries produce from the highest grade deposits 
in the world, averaging 64 and 63 pet CaF 2 , respectively, 
and both often use reserve cutoff grades between 50 and 60 
pet CaF 2 . This cutoff grade is higher than the average ore 
grades of the other evaluated countries, which range from 
22 pet CaF 2 in South Africa to 50 pet CaF 2 in Namibia. Mex- 
ico and China would have significantly higher resource 
values if they considered ore with grades as low as the 22 
pet CaF 2 in South Africa. 

A comparison of demonstrated ore and contained 
fluorspar is illustrated in figure 12. Note that this figure is 
broken at 40 million mt, and that South Africa's resources 
continue to 168 million mt (1984). These figures show the 
relative amount of ore that must be processed to recover the 
contained amount of fluorspar. Although 100 pet of the 
fluorspar resources are not actually recovered (this evalua- 
tion averaged 86-pct recovery for all properties), the higher' 
grade operations clearly have the advantage in this area. 

All ore from South Africa must be processed through 
flotation to produce acid-grade concentrates. On the other 
hand, most of China's and several of Mexico's high-grade 
operations practice hand-sorting methods to produce 
metallurgical-grade products. The resulting rejected ore 
runs around 50 to 60 pet CaF 2 , which is then floated to pro- 
duce acid- and ceramic-grade concentrates. This represents 
a significant savings in processing costs per metric ton of 
recovered product. Thailand also benefits from high-grade 
operations using hand-sorting methods to produce 
metallurgical-grade products. 



170 _ 



KEY 



r=^-3 In situ ore 
22 CaFg. pet 

Icontalned C a Fg 




Thailand 
Kanya U.S. 



Figure 12.— Comparison of in situ demonstrated ore and contained CaF 2 for 56 properties. 



21 



FLUORINE FROM PHOSPHATE 

In addition to primary fluorspar resources, fluorine con- 
tained in phosphate rock is another important resource. 
Fluosilicic acid resulting from the processing of phosphate 
rock can be used in the production of aluminum fluoride, in 
water fluoridation, and in a number of other chemical ap- 
plications. Eighteen U.S. plants processing phosphate rock 
for the production of phosphoric acid and two plants produc- 
ing hydrofluoric acid sold or used nearly 66,600 mt of 
byproduct fluosilicic acid in 1983 (27). 

According to the Bureau of Mines Minerals Availability 



appraisal of phosphate rock, approximately 1.6 billion mt of 
potentially recoverable phosphate rock was available at 
total costs ranging up to $30/mt in January 1981 dollars 
(10). (At costs up to $40/mt, a total of 10.6 billion mt was 
potentially available.) Based on an assumed average fluorine 
content of 3 pet and a processing recovery of 35 pet, 16.8 
million mt of fluorspar equivalent could potentially be 
recovered from the 1.6 billion mt of phosphate rock. 
Although technology exists to recover fluosilicic acid, not all 
operations find it economically feasible to do so. Therefore, 
the 16.8 million mt CaF 2 equivalent is a high estimate of the 
potential resources available. 



MINING METHODS 



Mining methods vary according to geologic conditions 
at each of the 56 deposits evaluated around the world. Deep 
deposits usually require underground techniques, while 
wide, shallow deposits employ open pit methods. If the 
ground is unable to support underground mining, open pit 
methods may be used even though overburden removal 
might be substantial. In some cases, open pit methods are 
used until the depth requires moving underground. 

Narrow vein mining is often done by shrinkage stoping 
and open stoping where strong walls occur, while stratiform 



or bedded deposits use room and pillar patterns. Replace- 
ment and fissure vein deposits are mined with shrinkage 
stoping or cut and fill methods if they are deep, narrow oc- 
currences. They may also be minded by open pit or strip 
mining techniques where they are near the surface and have 
competent sidewalls. The replacement and stockwork 
deposits in South Africa are all mined with open pit 
methods, as are most of the fissure veins in Thailand. 
However, replacement deposits in Mexico are extracted by 
stoping or cut-and-fill methods. 



BENEFICIATION 



Most fluorspar must be upgraded to meet market re- 
quirements, however, high-grade deposits in China, Mexico, 
and Thailand, and even the United States produce a 
metallurgical-grade gravel by hand sorting and sizing only. 
Lower grade ore must be processed by gravity, heavy media 
separation, or flotation methods to become marketable. 

Gravity separation is used for ores with relatively 
coarse interlocking minerals. Heavy media cone and drum 
separators are used on finer ores to produce metallurgical 
gravel or for preconcentrating ore prior to flotation. Heavy 
media processing can preconcentrate ore as low as 14 pet 
CaF 2 to yield a flotation feed of 40 pet CaF 2 , or more (13). 
Other minerals, such as lead, zinc, and barite concentrate 
with the fluorspar through preconcentration and can then 
be recovered through flotation. 

Acid and ceramic grades of fluorspar are produced by 
froth flotation processes. Ore is first crushed and ground to 
size. Then, if present in recoverable quantities, sulfides are 



floated off, with the lead first, followed by the zinc. All the 
easy-floating fluorspar is removed in the next step through 
a rougher flotation circuit, then sent to the cleaner circuit; 
the rougher tailing may be further treated in scavenger cells 
or directly discarded. The middling product may be 
reground and sent to one or more cleaning circuits to 
recover more finely interlocked grains of fluorspar and 
gangue. 

Acid-grade fluorspar is normally sold with a moisture 
content of 8 to 10 pet, because it is easier to load and unload 
and dust losses are minimized. Some products may be dried 
in a furnace and either shipped in covered hopper cars or 
tank trucks or bagged for shipment, depending upon the 
needs of the customer. Ceramic grades are normally 
marketed in bags, but dried products may be shipped to 
large consumers in railcars. Metallurgical-grade fluorspar is 
usually shipped as lump or gravel products. It is transported 
in barges, ships, or railcars. 



TRANSPORTATION 



Fluorspar products are transported to customers by 
truck, train, barge, and ship. Types of transportation 
available to producers influence the economic viability of an 
operation to a certain extent. South Africa must transport 
its products over long distances from the mines in the 
Transvaal area to the port of Durban. Fortunately, South 
Africa has a well-established rail net that serves a large 
number of mineral producers in the Transvaal area. The 
port at Durban is highly mechanized and can load and 
unload ships faster and more efficiently than most ports in 
the world, allowing shipments to be cost competitive with 
other less distant producers. 



In contrast, Mexico has a less efficient rail and highway 
network, and the port facilities at Tampico are older; these 
are disadvantages that can be overcome by short transpor- 
tation distances (U.S. Gulf Coast). However, the cost com- 
petitiveness becomes strained for more distant consumers. 

Transportation of products to consumers in the United 
States takes the form of barge, rail, or truck once they have 
cleared the port. Truck and rail are much higher than barg- 
ing costs, and many consumers are located near ports or 
along major rivers in order to take advantage of lower costs 
that are provided by proximity to waiter transportation. 



22 



WEIGHTED-AVERAGE TOTAL COST OF PRODUCTION 



A weighted-average total cost of fluorspar production 
at a 0-pct DCFROR was determined for each operation. 
Total fluorspar revenues were calculated by taking the total 
property revenues determined by the SAM and subtracting 
all byproduct revenues. The remaining revenues (total 
fluorspar revenues) for each operation were then divided by 
the total tonnage of recoverable acid-, metallurgical-, and/or 
ceramic-grade fluorspar to provide a weighted-average total 
cost of fluorspar production, by operation. This evaluation 
allows for comparisons of fluorspar production costs to be 
made between selected operations and weighted averages 
to be compiled for country comparisons. 

Figure 13 illustrates the breakdown of the weighted 
average total cost of production for selected fluorspar prop- 
erties classified as to whether the primary source of ore is 
from surface or underground mining techniques. All costs 
are in terms of metric tons of recoverable fluorspar concen- 
trate and assume a 0-pct DCFROR. The breakeven 
DCFROR includes the recovery of all investments but no ad- 
ditional profit. Table 18 shows the actual distribution of 
costs for the 45 selected operations. 

Mining costs vary widely among mining methods and 
deposit types, but make up 20 to 60 pet of total costs for 35 
(78 pet) of the 45 properties evaluated. A room-and-pillar 
mine in a stratiform deposit may cost as low as $6.50/mt to 
as high as $16/mt of ore mined. However, room-and-pillar 
costs generally run between 30 and 45 pet of total costs per 
metric ton of fluorspar concentrate. Economies of scale give 
an advantage to the large, low-grade open pit mines of 



Table 18.— Distribution of operating costs per metric ton of 
fluorspar concentrate produced for selected properties 

Transpor- Miscel- 
Percentage Mining Milling tation laneous 

0-10 <3 5 14 27 

11-20 5 5 8 9 

21-30 8 15 14 8 

31-40 11 12 8 1 

41-50 7 4 

51-60 9 3 

61-70 1 1 

71-80 

81-90 

91-100 2 

Total 2 45 45 45 45 

'Number of properties with costs in given percentage category. 
2 Total does not include 1 1 operations that had byproduct revenue off- 
setting a portion of the total cost of fluorspar. 



South Africa. Stripping ratios (waste to ore) also impact 
mining costs, particularly for Europe's surface mines. 
Operations moving large tonnages of waste per metric ton 
of ore are at an obvious disadvantage, no matter what the 
final ore grade may be. 

Milling costs are fairly uniform for flotation methods, 
while costs for heavy media, gravity separation, and screen- 
ing methods are much lower. Processing costs make up less 
than 20 pet of the total costs at operations not employing 
flotation methods, but 20 to 40 pet of the total cost if flota- 
tion is utilized. 

Transportation costs are usually less than 30 pet of total 
costs; for 22 (49 pet) of the 45 evaluated operations, 



o 150 



-H 

c. 
o 

E 

L 
O 

a 

0) 

r_ 



o 

(0 
01 



c. 

<0 

D 
C 
10 






125 



100 



75 



50 



25 




KEY 
Miscellaneous 



Transport to port 




Surface operations Underground operations 

Figure 13.— Fluorspar production costs, weighted average for all grades of fluorspar, 0-pct DCFROR. 



vSL 1 -^ 



23 



transportation accounted for 20 pet or less. However, 
transportation costs may be as high as 40 pet for operations 
utilizing truck and/or rail for haulage over long distances to 
market or port areas. 

Miscellaneous costs represent that portion of the 
weighted-average total cost not included in mining and mill- 
ing operating costs or transportation costs. This includes 
items such as the cost of capital recovery, loan interest 
payments, taxes, and royalties. For this evaluation, any 
byproduct credits were deducted from the miscellaneous 
portion of the total cost. 

Miscellaneous costs are greater for undeveloped 
deposits that must recover large initial capital costs; long- 
term producers have usually recovered capital costs in 
previous years. Although the wide variety of costs included 
in the miscellaneous category make generalizations dif- 
ficult, miscellaneous costs accounted for less than 10 pet of 
total costs for 27 (60 pet) of the 45 operations. 



COST COMPARISONS, BY COUNTRY 

The weighted-average total cost in January 1984 U.S. 
dollars for selected countries can be compared in figure 14, 
with a breakdown of these costs given in table 19. The 
United Kingdom, Italy, and the Federal Republic of Ger- 
many are not represented on either figure 14 or table 19 for 
confidentiality reasons. The United States is shown on the 
illustration for country comparisons but is not included on 
the operating cost table in order to protect confidential 
data. However, the U.S. weighted-average total cost of pro- 
duction (about $90/mt) is lower than the combined mining, 
milling, and transportation cost per metric ton of fluorspar 
concentrate. This is because operations in Illinois depend 
upon byproduct revenues (zinc, aggregate, and some lead) 
to help with the total cost of production. 

In table 19, the cost ranges are average values and do not 
include costs that were extreme. The values in the total col- 
umn give an idea of cost ranges, but normally the combina- 



CHINA 



MEXICO 



THAILAND 



OTHER AFRICA 



UNITED STATES 



REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA 



FRANCE 



SPAIN 



20 



40 



60 



80 



100 



WEIGHTED-AVERAGE TOTAL COST. 
January 1984 dollars per metric ton 

Figure 14.— Breakeven weighted-average total cost of produc- 
tion for all grades of fluorspar, by country. 



Table 19.— Average range of operating costs and the percentage of total cost 
(0-pct DCFROR) 

Country Mining Milling 

China: 

Product cost $/mt.. $10-$25 $10-$15 

Average cost $/mt.. $15 $10 

Pet of total cost : 39 27 

France: 

Product cost $/mt . . $30-45 $20-25 

Average cost $/mt . . $41 $24 

Pet of total cost 45 27 

Mexico: 

Product cost $/mt. . $20-$30 $12-$18 

Average cost $/mt . . $21 $12 

Pet of total cost 38 22 

Other Africa: 

Product cost $/mt . . $15-$25 $25-$40 

Average cost $/mt . . $21 $29 

Pet of total cost 25 35 

South Africa, Republic of: 

Product cost $/mt . . $20-$40 $30-$40 

Average cost $/mt . . $29 $34 

Pet of total cost 32 38 

Spain: 

Product cost $/mt . . $50-55 $25-$35 

Average cost $/mt . . $50 $27 

. Pet of total cost 55 30 

Thailand': 

Product cost $/mt . . $22-$35 NAp 

Average cost $/mt . . $31 NAp 

Pet of total cost 41 NAp 

'Costs represent metallurgical-grade production only. Averages for total costs including 



per metric ton of fluorspar concentrate, by country 



Transportation, 
mill to port 



Miscellaneous 



Total 



$7-$20 

$11 

29 


$1-$8 

$2 

5 


$28-$68 
$38 
100 


$10-$15 

$15 

17 


$5-$ 15 

$10 

11 


$65-100 
$90 
100 


$10-$25 

$15 

29 


$6-$19 
$6 
11 


$48-$92 

$54 

10 


$12-$25 

$21 

26 


$10-$15 

$11 

14 


$62-$105 
$82 
100 


$20-$30 

$23 

25 


$3-$ 10 

$4 

5 


$73-$120 
$90 
100 


$2-$5 

$4 

5 


$5-$10 
$9 
10 


$82-$105 

$90 

10 


$14-$18 

$18 

24 


$10-$20 

$26 

35 


$44-$83 
$75 
100 



acid-grade production are above $125/mt at 0-pct DCFROR. 



24 



Table 20.— Impact of local currency rates of exchange on the weighted-average total cost of production for selected nations 

Actual 1982 Local currency Projected 1984' Actual 1984 

Nation total cost, per U.S. dollar total cost, total cost, 

$/mt product 1982 1984 $/mt product $/mt product 

France 101 6.572 7.621 87 90 

Mexico 77 54.985 120.094 35 54 

Other Africa 2 84 4.44 5.04 74 82 

South Africa, Republic of 88 1.084 1.112 86 90 

Spain 111 109.86 143.43 85 9(3 

'Projected 1984 total cost calculated by converting actual 1982 cost to local currency, then dividing by 1984 currency per U.S. dollar value. No 
other factors taken into account (i.e., inflation, changes in capacity or costs, etc.). 
2 Other Africa includes Kenya, Morocco, Namibia, and Tunisia. Currency exchange factors are the average for the four countries. 



tion of costs for each operation was not all high or all low. 
The weighted-average total cost for each country was used 
to calculate the percentage breakdown of costs, and the 
percentages may not give the median value of the cost 
ranges. The average cost per metric ton was determined by 
the percentage of the weighted-average cost on a country 
basis, and should be used only for comparison of tendencies 
between countries, not as the actual average cost for any 
one operation. 

China had the lowest average total cost of production, at 
$38/mt of fluorspar concentrates. This was directly related 
to low capital and operating costs associated with the high- 
grade deposits. China utilizes low cost ($15/mt fluorspar 
produced) mining methods and hand-sorting methods for re- 
covery of large tonnages of metallurgical gravel. Mexico 
also benefits from high grade deposits with a small percent- 
age of handsorting for metallurgical products. Mine 
operating costs average $21/mt of concentrate, however, 
and the weighted-average total cost of production was 
$54/mt CaF 2 . 

Thailand utilizes handsorting for its metallurgical gravel, 
but mine operating costs average around $31/mt concen- 
trate. Higher milling cost for acid-grade production, and 
high transportation costs ($18/mt concentrate), together 
with a 4.5-pct royalty paid to the Government, weighted the 
costs towards the higher side, at $75/mt CaF 2 concentrate. 

The African nations of Kenya, Tunisia, Morocco, and 
Namibia averaged $82/mt CaF 2 concentrate and fared 
slightly better than South Africa ($90/mt). This was a direct 
result of the higher grade ores in the other nations, (40 pet 
versus 22 pet), which lowers the mine operating cost per 
metric ton of concentrate. South African mining costs 
averaged $29/mt concentrate, while other African nations 
averaged only $21/mt concentrate. 

South Africa appears to compete directly with France, 
Spain, and the United States because of the low-cost open 
pit mines and economies of scale afforded by their huge 
operations. These four countries all had weighted average 
total costs around $90/mt CaF 2 produced. Although France 
and Spain had higher mining costs than South Africa 
($41/mt and $50/mt versus $29/mt), this was compensated 
for by lower millings costs ($24/mt and $27/mt versus 
$34/mt), and lower transportation costs ($15/mt and $4/mt 
versus $23/mt). Spain has the lowest transportation costs 
(to port areas) of the countries evaluated because all of its 



operations are located near the coasts. U.S. mining and mill- 
ing costs were higher than those of the other three coun- 
tries, but byproduct revenues offset a portion of these costs. 

FOREIGN CURRENCY EXCHANGE RATES 
IMPACT COSTS IN U.S. DOLLAR TERMS 

The exchange rates for local currencies play a major role 
in the results of the cost estimates. While production costs 

Currencies in Mexico, Spain, and France saw the greatest 
devaluation between 1982 and 1984 in relation to the U.S. 
dollar. While inflation, particularly in Mexico, did cause 
costs to be higher than the currency exchange rate pro- 
jected, the actual drop in the weighted-average total cost of 
production in 1984 was significant: $23/mt (Mexico), $21/mt 
(Spain), and $ll/mt (France). 

The drop in costs projected by the exchange rate for 
South Africa was more than compensated for by inflation, 
so costs actually increased between 1982 and 1984. On an 
average basis, the exchange rates of the other African na- 
tions of Kenya, Morocco, Namibia, and Tunisia also nearly 
kept up with inflation and costs declined only $2/mt, despite 
the projected $107mt drop. 

The relative ranking of countries changed considerably as 
a result of this devaluation. Ranked in order from lowest 
cost to highest in 1982, the countries were Mexico, other 
African nations, Republic of South Africa, France, and 
Spain. As of 1984, however, devaluation had evened out the 
costs with Spain and France now able to compete with 
South Africa; all had weighted-average total costs of $90/mt 
product. 

have been influenced by local inflation between 1982 (year of 
costs obtained) and 1984 (year of evaluation), the devalua- 
tion of local currencies in relation to the U.S. dollar has re- 
sulted in an apparent decline in local costs in U.S. dollar 
terms. 

Table 20 shows how currency exchange rates have af- 
fected the weighted-average total cost of production for 
selected evaluated nations. The table lists the exchange 
rates assumed for this evaluation as well as the 1982 deter- 
mined weighted-average total cost of production. From 
these values, a projected 1984 cost (accounting for exchange 
values only, no inflation) was calculated. The actual deter- 
mined 1984 weighted-average total cost is shown in the final 
column. 



FACTORS AFFECTING WORLDWIDE FLUORSPAR AVAILABILITY 



Many factors contribute to the economic status of a 
deposit. Capital expenditures vary from deposit to deposit, 
depending upon the mining and beneficiation methods used 
as well as the annual capacity. Operating costs are also in- 
fluenced by mining and beneficiation methods, as well as by 
economies of scale, ore to waste ratios, and grades of ore. 



Operations that recover byproducts (such as lead, zinc, 
and/or barite) have additional revenues to offset production 
costs compared with those operations that do not recover 
byproducts. The cost of transportation impacts the total 
cost of production to various degrees, depending upon the 
modes of transportation and distance to market or port areas. 



25 



Table 21.— Production estimates for evaluated properties in 

1984, and estimated total production capacities for 1984 and 

1990, by country (29) 

(Thousand metric tons) 

1984 1981 1990 

production 1 capacity capacity' 

China 505 544 635 

France 205 290 544 

Germany, Federal 

Republic of 61 100 100 

Italy 150 181 2 306 

Kenya 80 91 91 

Mexico 801 1,097 1,360 

Morocco 62 73 91 

Namibia NAp NAp 3 67 

South Africa, 

Republic of 414 680 907 

Spain 167 317 408 

Thailand 155 272 91 

Tunisia 41 45 45 

United Kingdom 159 345 345 

United States 54 73 73 

Total 2,854 4,108 4,996 

Other" NAp 1,687 1,868 

Grand total NAp 5,795 6,864 

NAp Not applicable, 'forecast. 

■Production figures assumed for this evaluation, 1984. Production rates 
will differ from actual values as all production rates are assumed, and 
full capacity is assumed for some operations. 

2 1990 capacity for Italy assumes development of Pianciano deposit. 

3 Final capacity scheduled for almost 1.1 million mt CaF 2 . 

"Additional capacity for nations not evaluated: Argentina, Brazil, 
Czechoslovakia, German Democratic Republic, India, North Korea, 
Republic of Korea, Mongolia, Romania, and U.S.S.R. 



Ownership can also affect the availability of fluorspar. 
Operations controlled by governments may produce fluor- 
spar regardless of world market conditions; they either 
stockpile excess production, or produce only for domestic 
consumption. Vertical integration is common, as many of 
the mining companies are subsidiaries of companies in con- 
sumptive industries. 



FLUORSPAR PRODUCTION CAPACITY 

Production capacities for fluorspar concentrates have 
been converted from short tons, as listed in Bureau of Mines 
Bulletin 675, to metric tons, and are shown in table 21 (29). 
Capacities are shown for evaluated countries, with remain- 
ing nations listed as "Other" at the end of the table. The 
1984 capacity values are installed capacities and include 
operations known to be- shut down, such as Marico in South 
Africa, Minas de Orgiva in Spain, and El Refugio in Mexico. 
Production data shown for 1984 are the data used for this 
evaluation and should not be taken to indicate actual pro- 
duction levels, which may be lower. Most evaluated prop- 
erties were operating at reduced levels; however, where ac- 
tual production information was not available, an operation 
was considered to be producing at or near full capacity. 

The capacity values forecast for 1990 include undeveloped 
deposits and proposed expansions for existing facilities (29). 
For this evaluation, all operations except Okorusu, Namibia, 
and depleted Thailand operations were assumed to be pro- 
ducing at full capacity by 1990. According to this evaluation, 
Okorusu would not reach full production capacity until 1994. 

Annual production levels were arrived at by assuming (1) 
current demonstrated reserves will decrease annually with 
no replacement, (2) presently reduced production rates will 
return to near capacity levels over the next 2 to 4 yr, (3) all 
idle operations will be brought back into production in the 



next 1 to 4 yr, and (4) all undeveloped properties will be de- 
veloped and commence production in the next 4 to 6 yr. 

The nearly 2.9 million mt fluorspar production assumed 
for this evaluation for 1984 is only 71 pet of the known 
capacity of 4.1 million mt given for the nations evaluated. 
As previously mentioned, slow market conditions have 
resulted in reductions at many facilities, and reduced pro- 
duction levels were used for a number of evaluated opera- 
tions. Using 1984 as a base year, potential production from 
the evaluated operations could peak in about 10 yr at 4.5 
million mt. However, the capacity forecast for 1990, at just 
under 5 million mt, would be 10 pet above production levels 
required for the operations evaluated. Although production 
appears to decline by the year 2000, proposed production 
levels for this evaluation (nearly 3 million mt) would be ap- 
proximately equivalent to the 2.9 million mt estimated for 
1984. 

Even if the United States produces at capacity, it cannot 
meet its consumptive needs. In 1983, U.S. apparent com- 
sumption was 557,000 mt of fluorspar, of which 411,000 mt 
(74 pet) was imported. Higher production capacities are not 
anticipated for the United States, as 98 pet of the domestic 
fluorspar reserve base is considered marginal to 
subeconomic. The United States will continue to depend 
upon other nations, primarily Mexico, China, and South 
Africa, for its supply of fluorspar. 

On the world level, additional capacity would be needed to 
meet the higher production levels projected by this evalua- 
tion, but more than adequate capacity exists to meet current 
world demands. Although a number of operations are cur- 
rently producing at greatly reduced levels, the cutbacks are 
a result of the worldwide slowdown in the industries con- 
suming fluorspar. 



TOTAL AVAILABILITY OF FLUORSPAR 

Figure 15 shows the total availability and weighted- 
average total cost of the 56 fluorspar properties. The total 
in this illustration represents the total cost of production for 
all products. At a total cost of $75/mt approximately 55 
million mt (56 pet) of fluorspar can be produced and all costs 
of production recovered at a breakeven DCFROR. At 
$100/mt the recoverable portion increases to 84 pet (82.1 
million mt), and at $120/mt, nearly 99 pet of the total 97.5 
million mt is available. These costs are not to be compared 
directly with the market prices for acid, metallurgical, or 
ceramic grades because they are a weighted average. 



PRICE PROPORTIONS 

The total cost of production for each fluorspar product 
was determined by assigning a proportional factor to repre- 
sent the market price differential for each fluorspar prod- 
uct. Other commodities (byproducts) were given set prices 
(see table 2), and any resulting revenues (credits) were 
deducted from the total revenues required to cover all costs 
at the prespecified DCFROR (0 pet or 15 pet). The remain- 
ing revenues were then apportioned between fluorspar 
products recovered. A market price proportion was as- 
signed on a property by property basis, or on a countrywide 
basis where pricing was known to be consistent. To avoid 
the problem of published price ranges, the prices used were 
supplied by property management in most cases. 

The price proportions allow revenues to be divided be- 



26 



150 



c 
o 
■p 



o 125 - 



L 

+J 

. <D 

i- e 
m 

O L 

O CD 

a 

J 

< 0) 

I- L 
O 10 

UJ o 
CD T3 
< 

UJ CO 
> 0) 

< -n 

> 

L 
CO 

3 
C 
(0 

1 



100 



75 - 



50 - 



25 - 




10 



20 



80 



90 



30 40 50 60 70 

RECOVERABLE CaF 2 . 10 6 mt 
Figure 15.— Weighted-average total cost and availability of fluorspar from 56 properties, 0-pct DCFROR. 



100 



180 



160 



-| — 1 

KEY 

0-pct DCFROR 
15-pct DCFROR 



a> 

§ 140 

a> 

a. 

I 120 
o 

-a 

*t 
CO 

<£ 100 



o 

a 80 



O 
o 

< 

I- 
o 



60 



40 




20>— 




J. 



-L 



J- 



10 20 30 40 50 60 70 

RECOVERABLE ACID-GRADE CaF 2 , I0 6 mt 
Figure 16.— Cost and total availability of acid-grade fluorspar at 0-pct and 15-pct DCFROR. 



80 



27 




0.5 1.0 15 2.0 2.5 3.0 

ANNUAL RECOVERABLE ACID-GRADE CaF 2 , I0 6 mt 
Figure 17.— Cost and annual availability of acid-grade fluorspar through the year 2000. 



3.5 



tween products according to their relative market value, 
rather than assigning a price for one fluorspar product and 
determing a price for another. In Mexico, for example, acid- 
grade concentrates were assigned the factor 1.54 (cor- 
responding to the Mexican producer price of $154/mt for 
1981 and 1982), while metallurgical grades were given a fac- 
tor of 1.23 (price of $123/mt). This resulted in revenue-being 
split such that the metallurgical-grade revenues determined 
were approximately 80 pet of the acid-grade revenues. 
Historically, metallurgical prices averaged around 80 pet of 
acid prices over the years 1979-82; metallurgical prices in 
1983 and 1984 prices were listed as 74 pet of acid prices. 
Overall metallurgical prices ranged from 73 to 82 pet of acid 
prices for the countries evaluated; China was an exception 
at 52 pet. 



ACID-GRADE FLUORSPAR 

Of the 56 fluorspar mines and deposits evaluated, 32 
operations recovered a single fluorspar product; 25 of these 
recovered only acid grades, and 7 recovered only 
metallurgical grades. The remaining 24 properties were 
divided as follows: 15 recovered acid and metallurgical 
grades; 4 recovered acid and ceramic grades; and 5 
recovered all three grades. The total availability of acid- 
grade fluorspar is shown in figure 16. The solid line 
represents the average total cost required over the life of 
the operation to meet all costs at a breakeven, or 0-pct. 
DCFROR. The broken line represents the average total cost 
of production including a 15-pct DCFROR on invested 
capital. As illustrated, the costs including the 15-pct 
DCFROR increase more towards the high end of the curve, 
where undeveloped operations are more prevalent. As 



previously explained, established operations have already 
recovered initial capital expenditures and have fewer costs 
to cover prior to making the 15-pct DCFROR. 

In 1984, the average market price for acid-grade 
fluorspar was around $110/mt. Approximately 68 pet (48 
million mt) of acid-grade fluorspar was potentially available 
at an average total cost below $110/mt, including a 15-pct 
DCFROR. (Note that the total costs represent long-run con- 
stant 1984 dollar values.) 

Annual availability of acid-grade fluorspar is illustrated 
in figure 17. This illustration should be kept in perspective 
relative to the assumptions used in the discussion of these 
curves in the Methodology section. Using 1984 as a base 
year, production levels increase to a peak of nearly 3.5 
million mt in 1992. The values represented for the year 2000 
indicated that, although production levels will be declining, 
they would still be slightly above current rates, as more 
fluorspar could potentially become available from currently 
undeveloped or idle operations. 

METALLURGICAL-GRADE FLUORSPAR 

The total availability of 27 operations proposed to 
recover metallurgical-grade fluorspar is shown in figure 18. 
This illustration includes curves representing the 0-pct 
(breakeven) and 15-pct DCFROR. Market prices in early 
1984 were averaging between $60/mt and $80/mt, and 
almost 92 pet of the evaluated tonnage recovered was 
potentially available below $75/mt, including a 15-pct 
DCFROR. About 64 pet (15.4 million mt) could potentially 
be produced for less than $50/mt. Prices for metallurgical- 
grade concentrates may be slow to return to the higher 
levels of the early 1980's because of numerous closures in 
the steel industry. 



28 



c 
o 



E 
k_ 
o> 

Q. 

if) 

k- 

o 
o 

TJ 

<t 
00 
CD 



r- 
(/) 

o 
o 

_) 
< 

o 



100 



90- 



80- _ 



70- 



60- 



>» sn - 



o 

c 
o 

~3 



50 



40- 



30- 



KEY 

0-pct DCFR0R 

15-pct DCFR0R 




20- 



._/- 



p-J 




if " 



J 



i 



J 



10, 



X 



2.5 5.0 7.5 10.0 12.5 15.0 17.5 20.0 22.5 

RECOVERABLE METALLURGICAL-GRADE CaF 2 , I0 6 mt 
Figure 18.— Cost and total availability of metallurgical-grade fluorspar at 0-pct and 15-pct DCFROR. 



25.0 



c 
o 



E 
k_ 

CD 
O. 



o 
■o 

00 
0> 



a 

C 

o 



CO 

o 
o 



o 




0.I 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 I.O I.I 

ANNUAL RECOVERABLE METALLURGICAL-GRADE CaF 2 , I0 6 mt 

Figure 19.— Cost and annual availability of metallurgical-grade fluorspar through the year 2000. 



29 



120 



o HO 



£ 100 
<v 

e 

8. 9° 
</> 

E 

o 

5; 70 

00 

91 

>s 60 
o 

o 50 
CO 40 



O 
O 

_J 
< 

H 
O 

r- 



30 



KEY 

0-pct DCFROR 

15-pct DCFROR 



- i 



r 1 



j 



r 



j 



20 



10 



0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 

RECOVERABLE CERAMIC-GRADE CaF 2 , I0 6 mt 

Figure 20.— Cost and total availability of ceramic-grade fluorspar at 0-pct and 15-pct DCFROR 



I.6 



1. 8 




20 30 40 50 60 70 80 

ANNUAL RECOVERABLE CERAMIC-GRADE CaF 2 , I0 3 mt 
Figure 21.— Cost and annual availability of ceramic-grade fluorspar through the year 2000. 



30 



With 1984 as a base year, annual production for 
metallurgical-grade products peaks at approximately 1.2 
million mt in 1989 and then tapers off (fig. 19). Production 
rates for the year 2000 about equal the current level of 
690,000 mt at costs below $70/mt concentrate. This curve 
should not be taken as an indication of a decline in the 
availability of metallurgical grades of fluorspar; it simply 
represents a static view from 1984. The short-term reserves 
presently defined in Thailand will probably be increased in 
the future, as formal exploration programs are undertaken. 
Other resources, particularly in China and Mexico, will un- 
doubtedly be increased as well. 



CERAMIC-GRADE FLUORSPAR 

The availability of ceramic-grade fluorspar is highly 
variable, and none of the operations evaluated produce only 
ceramic-grade products. Ceramic-grade fluorspar is normal- 
ly produced according to consumer needs and specifications, 
and because of the closeness in CaF 2 grades, is nearly 
always produced along with acid-grade concentrates. For 
this evaluation, at the time of the site visits nine operations 
that regularly produced ceramic-grade fluorspar were ac- 



tive, expected to continue doing so on a regular basis. Many 
other acid-grade operations can and do produce small 
amounts of ceramic grades as consumers request. 

Figure 20 shows the total availability of ceramic-grade 
fluorspar for the properties evaluated. The solid line 
represents the total cost at a breakeven (0-pct) DCFROR, 
while the broken line indicates the average total cost in- 
cluding a 15-pct DCFROR. At 15-pct DCFROR, 63 pet (I. i 
million mt) of ceramic-grade fluorspar was potentially 
available at average total costs between $90/mt and 
$103/mt. However, at 0-pct DCFROR, 86 pet (1.5 million 
mt) was potentially available at average total costs between 
$65/mt and $95/mt. The 1984 price for ceramic-grade 
fluorspar was reported at $103/mt from Mexico and 
$165/mt in the United States. 

Annual availability of ceramic-grade fluorspar is il- 
lustrated in figure 21. This figure shows that annual produc- 
tion potentially increases to about 91,000 mt in 1991. The 
projected production for the year 2000 is well above the cur- 
rent levels with the addition of nonproducing and 
undeveloped properties. The extreme shifts of these curves 
are unlikely to occur and represent initiation of develop- 
ment of all undeveloped deposits and resumption of produc- 
tion from closed operations over the next few years. 



SUMMARY 



Fluorspar prices peaked in 1982 and then dropped 
significantly as reduced demand and oversupply slowed the 
market. Consumption dropped drastically in 1982 and 1983, 
but recovered slightly in 1984. Starting in 1974, the Mexican 
Fluorspar Institute structured prices for Mexican fluorspar 
products. In recent years, a number of countries took ad- 
vantage of the artificially established higher prices and set 
spot prices well below Mexico's. Some suppliers were 
delivering concentrates to U.S. gulf port areas for 15 to 20 
pet below the Mexican price at Tampico. Eager to regain 
customers, Mexico abandoned its official pricing structure 
in 1984. The average reported prices for Mexican concen- 
trates in 1984 were just under those of Europe and South 
Africa. 

The threat of supply interruptions, although inconve- 
nient, would not put many fluorspar consumers at much of a 
disadvantage because fluorspar is available from a number 
of different countries. Mexico, South Africa, and China are 
the three largest producers, with additional sources from 
other African and European countries. As Mexico found out 
when it kept its prices high, other nations eagerly filled 
orders for Mexico's previous customers. It could be assumed 
that similar arrangements would be made if fluorspar was 
suddenly not available from any one country. Production 
capacities may need to be increased to meet additional 
demands, but since many operations are currently produc- 
ing at less than capacity, this would not necessarily be a 
lengthy task. 

As of January 1984, world reserves for evaluated 
fluorspar properties totaled 97 million mt, with a reserve 
base of 156 million mt. South Africa, China, and Mexico hold 
67 pet of the reserves evaluated. Although South Africa ap- 
pears to have a tremendous in situ ore resource (168 million 
mt, 1984), the average grade of only 22 pet CaF 2 drops its 
contained resource to only 37.2 million mt; reserves total 
29.5 million mt. 

Mexico and China produce from the highest grade 
deposits in the world, averaging 64 and 63 pet CaF 2 , respec- 
tively. Both countries often use cutoff grades in reserve 



calculations that are higher than the average ore grades of 
the other evaluated countries. Mexico and China would have 
significantly higher resources values if they considered ore 
with grades as low as the 22 pet CaF 2 in South Africa. 

Mining costs vary greatly, but average 20 to 60 pet of 
total costs for 35 of the 45 properties evaluated. Milling 
costs are fairly uniform for flotation methods (20 to 40 pet), 
with heavy media and gravity separation and screening 
methods being much lower (less than 20 pet of total costs). 
Transportation costs are usually under 20 pet of total costs; 
for 27 of the operations, transportation accounted for 10 pet 
or less. 

China had the lowest average total cost of production at 
$38/mt of fluorspar concentrates. Mexico ranked second, in- 
fluenced by its higher mine operating costs, and Thailand 
was third with high mining costs and royalty fees. Higher 
grade ores that lower mining costs per metric ton of concen- 
trate resulted in lower cost for the African nations of 
Kenya, Tunisia, Morocco, and Namibia than for South 
Africa. The United States, France, and Spain had weighted- 
average total costs equal to South Africa's at about $90/mt 
concentrate. What France and Spain gave up to South 
Africa in mining costs, they made up for in lower milling and 
transportation costs; most of the U.S. operations have the 
benefit of zinc and lead revenues to offset production costs. 

Local currency exchange rates also impact the overall 
ranking of fluorspar operations. Although inflation was 
high in many countries, the strong U.S. dollar negated cost 
increases in nearly all of the evaluated countries. Devalua- 
tion of local currencies in relation to the U.S. dollar had the 
greatest impact on operations in Mexico, where the 
weighted-average total cost of production decreased by 
$23/mt fluorspar product between 1982 and 1984. Devalua- 
tion in Spain and France brought their normally higher cost 
operations down to levels competitive with South Africa. 

Of the 56 fluorspar mines and deposits evaluated, 49 
recovered acid-grade concentrates, 27 recovered 
metallurgical grades, and 9 recovered ceramic grades. At a 
15-pct DCFROR, approximately 68 pet of acid-grade 



31 



fluorspar is potentially available below $110/mt, the average 
1984 market price. Lower market demand for 
metallurgical-grade concentrates has lowered world market 
prices from a high of $123/mt in 1982 and 1983, to between 
$60/mt and $80/mt in 1984; about 92 pet of the 
metallurgical-grade fluorspar was determined to be 
available below $75/mt. Potentially 63 pet of ceramic-grade 
fluorspar was available at average total costs between 
$90/mt and $103/mt. 

Current productions levels and proposed levels for this 
evaluation are well below capacity for the nations evaluated. 
Using 1984 as a base year, potential production from 
evaluated operations could peak in 1994 at about 4.5 million 
mt. The capacity forecast for 1990 is over 5.4 million mt. 
Although production would be declining by the year 2000, 



productions levels of nearly 3 million mt would be only 
slightly above the level estimated for 1984. 

Most operations are producing at greatly reduced levels 
as a result of the worldwide slowdown in the industries con- 
suming fluorspar, principally steel and aluminum produc- 
tion and chemical manufacturing. Althouh the aluminum 
and chemical (primarily HF) industries are showing signs of 
recovery, fluorspar's position in the steel industry's future 
does not look promising. The steel industry has been slow to 
recover, and producers are consuming less and less 
fluorspar per metric ton of steel. If these trends continue, 
the fluorspar industry will need to find alternative con- 
sumers for its products currently targeted for metallurgical 
consumption. In addition, the industry needs to improve and 
expand its markets for higher grades of fluorspar if higher 
production levels and attractive earnings are to be achieved. 



REFERENCES 1 



1. Anderson, A. L. The Antimony and Fluorspar Deposits 
Near Meyers Cove, Lemhi County, Idaho. ID Bur. Mines and Geol., 
Pam. 98, 1943, 34 pp. 

2. Berger, G. I. South African Fluorspar and its Role in World 
Markets. Paper in Proceedings of the Sixth 'Industrial Minerals' In- 
ternational Congress, ed. by G. M. Clarke. Toronto, Canada, May 
1984, pp. GIB1-GIB9. 

3. Chapin, C. E., and W. R. Seager. Evolution of the Rio 
Grande Rift in Socorro and Los Cruces Areas, South Central New 
Mexico. Ch. in Guidebook of the Los Cruces Country. 26th Field 
Conf. Guideb. (NM Geol. Soc), 1975, pp. 297-319. 

4. Chermette, A. (Fluorite in Morvan.) Suppl. to Monthly 
Bull., Linnaen Soc. of Lyon, v. 51, No. 5, May 1982, 16 pp. 

5. Clarke, G. Fluorspar- Falling Prices as Capacity Leads De- 
mand. Ind. Miner. (London), No. 177, June 1982, pp. 25-46. 

6. Davidoff, R. L. Supply Analysis Model (SAM): A Minerals 
Availability System Methodology. BuMines IC 8820, 1980, 45 pp. 

7. Dames & Moore. Development of Engineering and Cost 
Data for Foreign Fluorspar Properties (contract J0225010). 
BuMines OFR 170-84, 1984, 43 pp.; NTIS PB 85-103729. 

8. Engineering and Mining Journal. Markets, Nonmetallic 
Minerals. V. 180, No. 1, Jan. 1979 through V. 184, No. 8, Aug. 
1984. 

9. Montgomery, G. Fluorspar: Consumption Sags and Prices 
Rise Above Last Year's Levels. Eng. and Min. J., v. 182, No. 3, 
Mar. 1981, pp. 101-103. 

10. Fantel, R. J., T. F. Anstett, G. R. Peterson, K. E. Porter, 
and D. E. Sullivan. Phosphate Rock Availability -World, A 
Minerals Availability Program Appraisal. BuMines IC 8989, 1984, 
65 pp. 

11. Foot, D. G., F. W.'Benn, and J. L. Huiatt. Recovery of 
Fluorite and Byproducts From the Fish Creek Deposit, Eureka 
County, Nevada. Paper in Proceedings from the Herbert H. 
Kellogg Symposium, Physical Chemistry of Extractive Metallurgy, 
ed. by Kudryk and Rao. Feb. 1985, pp. 251-262. 

12. Fulton, R. B. III. Availability of Fluorspar in Thailand. 
Final Report on BuMines contract J0225010, 1983, 6 pp; available 
upon request from C. C. Kilgore, BuMines, Denver, CO. 

13. Fulton, R. B. Ill, and G. Montgomery. Fluorspar and 
Cryolite. Ch. in Industrial Minerals and Rocks (Nonmetallics Other 
Than Fuels). Soc. Min. Eng. AIME, 5th ed., 1983, pp. 723-744. 

14. Howse, A., P. Dean, S. Swinden, B. Kean, and F. Mor- 
rissey. Fluorspar Deposits of the St. Lawrence Area, New- 
foundland: Geology and Economic Potential. Dep. Mines and 
Energy, Miner. Devel. Div., Govt, of Newfoundland and Labrador, 
Rep. 83-9, St. John's, Newfoundland, 1983, 21 pp. 



'Titles enclosed in parentheses are translations from the language in which 
the item was published. 



15. Industrial Minerals. The Pianciano Fluorspar Pro- 
ject-Set for 1980. No. 130, July 1978, pp. 49-51. 

16. Prices. No. 136, Jan. 1979, to No. 207, Dec. 

1984. 

17. Mexico's Industrial Minerals -Gathering 

Momentum. No. 153, June 1980, pp. 21-53. 

18. El Refugio Fluorspar Shot Down. No. 202, 

July 1984, p. 11. 

19. Fluorspar and Barytes '83 Report. No. 202, 

July 1984, pp. 10-11. 

20. Fluoruros Develop Underground Mine. No. 

202, July 1984, p. 13. 

21. Jones, G. M. Kenya Fluorspar. Min. Mag., v. 147, No. (>, 
Dec. 1982, pp. 536-543. 

22. Mining Magazine. Pianciano Fluorite: Development Ap- 
praisal. V. 139, No. 3, Sept. 1978, pp. 203-209. 

23. New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources. 
Fluorspar Resources of New Mexico. Bull. 21, 1946, 245 pp. 

24. Pazour, D. A. San Francisco del Oro Aims for Higher Pro- 
ductivity. World Min., v. 33, No 11, Oct. 1980, pp. 54-59. 

25. Pelham, L. Fluorspar. Ch. in BuMines Minerals Yearbook 

1981, v. 1, pp. 339-348. 

26. Fluorspar. Ch. in BuMines Minerals Year- 
book 1982, v. 1, pp. 343-352 

27. . Fluorspar. Ch. in BuMines Minerals Year- 
book 1983, v. 1, pp. 357-366. 

28. . Fluorspar. Sec. in BuMines Mineral Com- 
modity Summaries 1985, pp. 50-51. 

29. . Fluorspar. Ch. in Mineral Facts and Pro- 
blems, 1985 Edition. BuMines B 675, 1985 (in press). 

30. Quinn, G. J. Flourspar: Following a Strong First Half. I >e- 
mand Sagged by Year End. Eng. and Min. J., v. 183, No. 3, Mar. 

1982, pp. 119-121. 

31. . Fluorspar: A Continued Lull in Demand 

Looks Likely in the Near Term. Eng. and Min. ,)., v. 184, No. 3. 
Mar. 1983, pp. 115-118. 

32. . Fluorspar: Future Brighter For Acid-grade 

Spar Than for Metallurgical. Eng. and Min. .1., v. 1S5, No. 3. Mar. 
1984, pp. 93-94. 

33. Rahn, J. F. The Geology of the Meyers Cove Area Lemhi 
County, Idaho. M.S. Thesis, Univ. ID, 1979'. Ill pp. 

34. Ruis, .1. Geology and Geochemistry of the Las ('novas 
Fluorite Deposit, San Luis I'otosi, Mexico. Econ. Geol. v. 75, 1980, 
pp. 1200-1209. 

35. Ryan, 1'. .1. A Review of the Fluorspar Mining Indusln in 
South Africa, Paper in Proceedings of 12th CMMI Congress, ed. by 
II.VV. Glen. S. A IV. Inst. Min. Me'all.. Johannesburg, 1982, pp. 
229-247. 

30. Societe d'Enferprisos Carriores et Mines de rEslorol 
(SECME). (Pierre Porthuis Fluorite). Hi pp. (Not dated). 



32 



37. Skillings, D. N., Jr. San Francisco del Oro. Skiliings Min. 
Rev., Dec. 25, 1982, pp. 6-8. 

38. Snyder, K. D. Geology of the Bayhorse Fluorite Deposit, 
Custer County, Idaho. Econ. Geo!., v. 73, 1978, pp. 207-214. 

39. Soule de La Font, D. and J. Lhegu. (The Stratiform 
Deposits of Fluorite of the Morvan (Southeast of the Paris Basin, 
France).) Paper E2 in French Deposits, Proc. 26th Congr. Geol. 
Int., Paris, July 7-17. 1980, 38 pp. 



40. Steeves, M. A. Research Report, Eaglet Mines Limited. 
Pemberton Houston Willoughby, Vancouver, BC, Feb. 1984, 6 pp. 

41. U.S. Department of Commerce, Federal Emergency 
Management Agency. Stockpile Specifications, Fluorspar, 
Metallurgical-Grade. May 1984, 1 p. 

42. U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Bureau of Mines. Prin- 
ciples of a Resource/Reserve Classification for Minerals. U.S. Geol. 
Surv. Circ. 831, 1980, 5 pp. 



33 

APPENDIX A.— FLUORSPAR PROPERTIES 

Table AL— Ownership of fluorspar properties 

China: 

Da Gai Tang mines, Hua De mill Hua De District Economic Commission, CMIEC. 

De An District Jiangxi Provincial Metallurgical Corp. 

Hei Shao Tou mine, Bai Yun He Pe mill Inner Mongolia Branch CMIEC. 

Hong An District Hubei Branch Ministry of Metallurgical Industries. 

Pong Lai mines, Fu Shan mill Yan Tai Prefecture Metallurgical Bureau. 

Pong Lai mines, Xian Shan mill Do. 

Wu Yi District Dong Feng Mining Co. 

France: 

Escaro Denain Anzin Mineraux COMIFLUOR (Pechiney). 

Fontsante Societe D'Enterprises, Carrieres et Minas de L'Esterel (SECME) 

(Pechiney). 

Le Burc SOGEREM (Pechiney). 

Montroc Do. 

Morvan District Pechiney. 

Rossignol Societe Industrielle du Centre, S.A. (SIC). 

Germany, Federal Republic of: 

Clara Sachtleben Bergbau GmbH (Metallgesellscaft AG) 

Kaefersteige Flus-und Schwerspatwerke Pforzheim GmbH (Bayer AG). 

Italy: 

Domusnovas Mineraria Silius S.p.A. 

Mineraria Silius Do. 

Pianciano Soricom, S.p.A. (Southland Mining Co.). 

Kenya: Kenya Flurospar Co. Ltd Government of Kenya. 

Mexico: 

El Realito (Rio Verde) Penoles S.A. de C.V., IMC Corp. (40 pet). 

El Refugio (Rio Colorado) Penoles S.A. de C.V., Allied Chemicals, (40 pet.) 

Fluorita De Mexico S.A IMC de Mexico, IMC Corp. (49 pet) 

La Domincia S.A. de C.V La Domincia S.A. de C.V., Du Pont (49 pet) 

Las Cuevas Las Cuevas S.A., Noranda (49 pet) 

Minas De Navidad Minerales y Productos Metalurgicos S.A. 

San Fransisco del Oro Minera San Francisco del Oro S.A. de C.V. 

Zinc de Mexico S.A Industrial Minera Mexico S.A. 

Morocco: El Hammam SAMINE; Ominium Nord African (66.7 pet), BRPM, Moroccan 

Government (33.3 pet). 

Namibia: Okorusu Imkor (Pty.) Ltd., Samancor. 

South Africa, Republic of: 

Buffalo Fluorspar Transvaal Mining & Finance Co. 

Kruidfontein Southern Sphere Mining & Development Co. (Pty) Ltd. 

(Utah International). 

Marico Fluorspar Transvaal Land and Investment Co. Ltd. 

Transvaal Fluorspar Samancor Management Services. 

Vergenoeg Vergenoeg Mining (Pty.) Co. (Bayer). 

Witkop Phelps Dodge Mining Ltd. 

Spain: 

Fluoruros Worker's Cooperative. 

Gijon Area Minerales y Productos Derivados S.A. (Minersa). 

Mina Ana, Torre mill Do. 

Minas de Orgiva (Minor) S.M.M. Penarroya-Espana, Minas De Almagrera. 

Thailand: 

Ban Lard mill Thai Fluorite Processing Co. Ltd. (TFP). 

Mae La Luang Universal Mining Co. 

Mae Tha District Do. 

Phanom Thuan District Phanom Thuan Mining Co. (Universal) 

Salak Pra United Fluorite Co. Ltd. 

SK Minerals SK Minerals (Krabi International Fluorite Co. Ltd.) 

Takien Ngam United Fluorite Co. Ltd. 

Thao Dam Mine Thaivat Mining Co. Ltd. (affiliated with TFP). 

Tunisia: Hammam Zriba Societe Miniere de Spath Fluor et Barytine (FLUOBAR); Societe des 

Industries Chimiques du Fluor (ICF) (50 pet), Tunisian Government 
(50 pet). 
United Kingdom: 

Blackdene mill and mines Minworth Ltd. 

Broadwood mill and mines Do. 

Derbyshire Deposits Laporte Industries Ltd. 

United States: 

Annabell Lee Ozark-Mahoning Co. 

Barnett Do. 

Denton Do. 

Henson Do. 

La Piasano D&F Minerals Inc. 

Nye Crowell Crowell Fluorspar Co. 

Table A-2.— U.S. fluorspar properties deleted from study 

Srafe and property name Reason deleted 

Arizona: 

Red Rock 27,000 mt inferred. 

Quartz Ledge 18,600 mt inferred. 

Colorado: St. Peters Dome . . . 859,000 mt inferred, and no 

technology. 
Illinois: 

Hastie Quarry 41,000 mt, intermittent. 

Heavy Media Near depletion. 

Knight Mine Do. 

Oregon: Rome Tuffs No technology. 



MM 



35 



APPENDIX B.— GEOLOGY, MINING, BENEFICIATION, INFRASTRUCTURE, AND 

TRANSPORTATION, BY COUNTRY 



The following sections give an overview of the fluorspar 
properties evaluated. Some of the country sections have 
been abbreviated owing to the large amount of material 
previously published. Countries with minimal published 
literature contain more detailed, site-specific information 
obtained during the course of this evaluation. Care has been 
taken to protect confidential information. 



KENYA 



Geology 

The fluorite deposits of the Kerio Valley are believed to 
be of hydrothermal origin in the Post-Miocene era, as lavas 
formed a protective cap over the Precambrian rocks in the 
area. Three orebodies have been identified and mined in the 
district (21). l 

The main fluorspar deposit, located at Kimwarer, is the 
only one currently in production. The Kimwarer ore body is 
exposed on a series of five hills, four of which have been 
mined. Stratabound bands of fluorite ore are up to 50 m 
wide at the surface. The fluorite ore is typically finely 
crystalline and disseminated through a siliceous matrix with 
a relatively high phosphorus content. There are virtually no 
sulfides present in the ore (21). 

Demonstrated resources of 6.2 million mt containing 41 
pet CaF 2 were being reported as of 1983. Inferred resources 
are present; however, exploration and geologic analysis are 
not of high priority, and there has been no attempt made to 
delineate further resources. The current resources are suffi- 
cient to support the mine for the next 25 yr. 

Mining and Beneficiation 



The plant utilizes an all-flotation process rather than utiliz- 
ing a prebeneficiation method such as heavy media separa- 
tion. When KFC took control of the operation in 1979, it 
closed the metallurgical-grade plant because of problems en- 
countered by the previous owner, Fluorspar Co. of Kenya. 
Capital was then diverted to revitalize the acid-grade fa- 
cility. 

Tailings flow by gravity to an impoundment located 1.2 
km from the mill. The plant requires 600,000 gal/d of water, 
all supplied as fresh water. There are no facilities to recir- 
culate the water from the mill at present. 

The acid-grade filter cake is trucked by contractors 45 
km to a railhead at Kaptagat and from there railed 884 km 
to the port of Mombasa on the Indian Ocean. 



Infrastructure 

Transportation facilities and utilities were in place when 
KFC acquired the property in 1979. Included was a water 
clarification and filtration facility for the nearby river that 
supplies water to the mill. Electricity is suppled by the East 
African Power and Lighting Co. Ltd. and a transformer 
substation at the concentrator reduces incoming power. 

Currently, housing, schools, recreation facilities, and 
medical care are provided by the company. All roads in the 
vicinity of the mine are maintained by the company, as well 
as an all-weather dirt airstrip for light aircraft (21). 

The port facilities at Mombasa are in need of im- 
provements. KFC will not be responsible for these costs, as 
Bamburi Portland Cement Co. is planning to spend $2 
million on a new port facility. KFC has built a new 
20,000-mt-capacity storage terminal at the port with a 
railcar off-loading area and reclaim facilities to tie in with 
the existing ship loader (21). 



The open pit mine currently in production has a produc- 
tion capacity of 1,600 mt/d and is limited by the mill capaci- 
ty. During the period 1980-82, an average stripping ratio of 
1:1 was experienced with 250,000 mt/yr each of ore and 
waste produced. There is no ore dilution, and 100 pet of the 
reserves are recoverable. . 

The Kenya Fluorspar Co. Ltd. (KFC) beneficiation proc- 
ess involves crushing, grinding, flotation, and dewatering. 



italicized numbers in parentheses refer to items in the list of references 
preceding appendix A. 



MOROCCO 



Geology 

Country rock of the El Hammam region consists of a 
series of schists and gneisses, with limestone lenses. Struc- 
ture in the area is a NE-trending syncline. Numerous calcite 
veins cut the country rock in the mine area. Local skarn 
metamorphism is attributed to a granite outcrop in the bed 



36 



of the Qued Beth River nearby. Two major periods of 
folding have been identified. Intrusion of the veins is 
associated with the later folding. 

The ore occurs as lenses in the calcite veins cutting the 
schist and consists of crystalline fluorspar varying in color 
from clear to green and violet, with accompanying silica, 
calcite, and minor sulfides. Strongest fluorspar mineraliza- 
tion is located at the vein intersections as more or less 
tabular en-echelon lenses. 

Mining Methods 

The principal mining method is shrinkage stoping. At 
the time of the site visit, mining was taking place on two 
levels, with six active stopes, three in extraction, and three 
in development. Production was about 800 mt/d ore, with 
200 mt/d waste. 

At 800 mt/d, 300 d/yr, mine production should be 
240,000 mt/yr. However, this rate has not been achieved, 
and for the purpose of this evaluation, an average rate of 
203,000 mt/yr was assumed. This figure was determined by 
averaging production for 1979-81. 

Development plans call for the deepening of the present 
mine levels; backfilling of old stopes is under investigation 
to insure stability as mining progresses to deeper levels. 
Backfilling has been initiated in a few stopes. If conducted 
on a full-scale basis, backfilling would raise the cost of min- 
ing and might be uneconomical if current weak market con- 
ditions persist. 



Table B-1. 


—Annual production of acid-grade 
Hamman, 1980-82 


fluorspar for El 


Year 


Ore treated, 
10 3 mt 


CaF, 
10 3 mt 


1980 . . . 


196 


66 


1981 


2.15 


68 


1982 . 


156 


50 









Beneficiation 

Ore is hauled from the mine by truck or train from the 
adit portals, a distance of 100 to 500 m. Ore is crushed and 
run through the heavy media plant for upgrading prior to 
flotation. Recent annual output of acid-grade concentrate is 
shown in table B-1. 

All of the concentrate produced is sold as filter cake in 
export markets. Acid-grade fluorspar is trucked by the Of- 
fice Nationale de Transport 65 km to the rail siding at 
Meknes. The Office Nationale de Chemin de Fer rails the 
concentrate 271 km to the ocean port at Casablanca. 



Infrastructure 

Water for the operation is pumped from the Qued Beth, 
a major river 6 km from the site. Electricity is supplied by a 
42-km, high-tension line completed in 1974. A 16-km paved 
highway linking to the Meknes highway was completed in 
1975. 

SAMINE, owner and operator of El Hammam, built a 
town for the workers and a small satellite community of 
villas for the staff. Both are supplied with domestic water 
from a filtration plant installed for that purpose. Amenities 
include an infirmary, schools, a mosque, a community 
building, and a cantina. Food stocks are brought in twice a 
•week from Meknes. 



NAMIBIA 



Geology 

The shape of the ore bodies can be described as 
limestone replacement deposits, lenticular in shape, from 
low to vertical dip following the attitude of the folded forma- 
tions. The principal geologic influence is the presence of an 
alkaline volcanic pluton, the source of the hydrothermal 
solutions. The fluorspar deposits occur on the flanks and 
crests of a 2.5-km-long, crescent-shaped ridge that rises 330 
m above the surrounding flat plain. 

Fluorspar occurs not only as replacements of limestone, 
but also as fracture fillings in sedimentary rocks and 
metasomatically altered sedimentary rocks that form the 
southern rim around an alkaline intrusive complex. 
Mineralization occurs in steeply dipping fractures in 
graywackes and meta-graywackes. Fluorspar also occurs in 
veinlike zones of brecciation as fracture fillings by fluorite 
and quartz, with gradational to irregular contacts with the 
country rock. The veins range in width up to 25 km and can 
be traced over distances as great as 300 m. 

The fluorspar consists of a relatively coarse mixture of 
fluorite and quartz, with minor calcite and apatite. The 
CaF 2 content of the veins ranges up to 83 pet and average 
40 pet. Phosphorus ranges up to 7.5 pet and averages 1.2 
pet P 2 5 . Drilling programs on both properties have 
delineated demonstrated resources of 7.9 million mt with an 
average grade of 50 pet CaF 2 . 

Mining and Beneficiation 

Aside from a modest amount of open pit mining and a 
small adit on the ore outcropping on the IMKOR side, there 
has been no mine development in the area, and no mill facili- 
ty has been built. The proposed mining plan for this evalua- 
tion calls for a limited size open pit mine of 500 mt/d, 
feeding a small commercial-sized mill, and a 1988 startup 
date was assumed. The size of the operation would permit 
further experimentation on high-phosphate ores, since con- 
centrates made in test work to date do not meet general 
market specifications for acid-grade fluorspar. 

High phosphorus content and the siliceous nature of the 
vein ores point to all-flotation milling. The most probable 
product would be a high grade metallurgical fluorspar (93.5 
pet CaF 2 ). The high grade would be required to offset the 
penalizing effect of the high phosphorus content. As briq- 
uettes do not travel well by sea, it may be assumed that 
filter cake is the most likely form of the product. 

Although surface methods would be used initially, it is 
likely that underground mining techniques would be used to 
exploit deeper ore bodies in the future. Additional drilling 
would be needed from the floors of open pits. Currently, in- 
sufficient deep drilling exists to properly delineate the 
deeper ore bodies. 

Infrastructure 

It will be necessary to construct and maintain a heavy 
duty gravel road 12 km to the rail siding at Otjikango, which 
then gives access to a present highway to Otjiwarongo, the 
closest commercial center. Some of the workers would need 
to be housed on a compound near the mine; however, 
workers from two neighboring tribes could be bussed from 
nearby towns. 



37 



Water is available for milling purposes from the Ugab 
River to the northwest, but additional well water resources 
will be needed. Power lines from Otjikango to the site will 
also be required. 



REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA 
Geology 
Bushveld Igneous Complex 

Buffalo 

The Buffalo fluorspar deposits occur in leptites, felsites, 
and the Bushveld granite of the Bushveld Igneous Complex. 
The origin of the Buffalo fluorspar deposits is related to the 
intrusion of the Bushveld granite into the felsite country 
rock, which was metamorphosed in the lower most parts to 
form the leptite xenoliths that host the economic concentra- 
tions of fluorspar. Minable quantities of fluorspar are found 
in the leptite host rock and occur in the form of simple or 
composite veins. The fluorspar mineralization varies from 
dark purple to pale green and occurs as parallel and sub- 
parallel veins located predominantly along bedding planes, 
—fractures, and certain joints in the leptite (35). 

At Buffalo, five ore bodies have been mapped to date: 
North, Mill, South, East, and Central. As of 1984, the first 
three of these ore bodies were being mined. With 
demonstrated reserves of 4.5 million mt contained CaF 2 , the 
operation could run for over 15 yr at the current capacity of 
240,000 mt/yr (2). 

Vergenoeg 

The Vergenoeg deposit, one of the largest in the world, 
is located within an area consisting of acid epicrustal 
Rooiberg felsite, capped by a succession of pyroclastics from 
early volcanic activity. The Vergenoeg ore body lies at the 
intersection of numerous major faults and fractures. It is 
believed that the present ore body was formed in the 
Vergenoeg volcanic vent, through which late-phase 
mineralizing fluids passed. At the time the Bushveld granite 
was emplaced, the Rooiberg felsite formed a cover entrap- 
ping mineralizing gasses and volatiles collected through 
fissures and fractures, resulting in explosive eruptions and 
the Vergenoeg vent (35). 

The hematite-fluorspar mixed ore consists of coarse- 
grained fluorite granules and masses set in a matrix of fine 
grained amorphous hematite. The fluorspar is colorless to 
light green, often displaying iron staining along cleavage 
planes. The CaF 2 content of the entire ore body averages 35 
pet, but ranges from 20 to 60 pet (35). 

Kruidfontein 

The Kruidfontein structure is classed as a carbonatite, 
and a high-level volcanic complex forming an integral part 
of the Pilansberg Province. The Kruidfontein volcano is 
situated in a large horst structure known as the Crocodile 
River fragment, a block of Pretoria Series and Dolomite 
Series sediments of the Transvaal system. It has been sug- 
gested that the fragment may represent an erosional rem- 
nant of a roof pendant within the Bushveld Igneous Com- 
plex. Rock types comprising the volcano are predominantly 
extrusive altered tuffs, pyroclastic breccias and flows, as 
well as some small intrusives. Many of these exhibit strong 
bedding, which dips towards center at angles commonly 
ranging from 10° to 40°. 



The volcanic complex is made up of two main elements: 
an outer rim, and an inner zone separated by a zone of tuffs 
and pyroclasts that is less resistant to erosion and forms a 
circular trough between the two main features. The outer 
rim consists mainly of ignimbrite and pyroclastic breccias, 
with andesite and trachyte, and apparently lacks mineraliza- 
tion. The inner zone is made up of a rhyolite unit and a 
sovite unit. The rhyolite outcrops on the western, southern, 
and eastern section of the complex but is absent in the nor- 
thern portion. Fluorite is found in veins, vugs, stockworks, 
and dissemination, but to date has not been found in 
economic concentrations. Sovite, a type of welded tuff, out- 
crops predominantly on the northern portion of the volcano, 
forming a continuous arcuate zone, and rests conformably 
on older pyroclastic breccias of the outer rim. Layered 
beforsite, essentially a dolomitized sovite, is the principal 
host rock for fluorite. 

Groot-Marico District 

The fluorspar deposits in the Groot-Marico District 
generally occur as large stratabound bodies in a well-defined 
dolomitic limestone unit. From a genetic viewpoint, the 
Groot-Marico fluorspar deposits are regarded as large, bed- 
ded replacement bodies of the classical Mississippi Valley 
type. Three main types of fluorspar ore are recognized in 
the Marico district: dolomitic or algal ores, rockspar, and 
residual ore (wad). Other types include blockspar, banded 
spar, and breccia spar. In replacement zones, fluorspar may 
occur as blebs, irregular stringers, or subparallel or folded 
lenses, and is generally white or light gray. Associated 
minerals are calcite, quartz, tremolite, talc, and sulfides. 
Coarse fluorspar also occurs as infilling of solution cavities 
and fracture zones in the dolomite. Mineralization is af- 
fected by north-south minor faulting and diking, which ap- 
pears to have led to brecciation and favorable sites for 
deposition of the higher grade ores. 

Witkop 

The fluorspar mineralization at Witkop occurs in bedded 
replacement deposits that are associated with dolomites of 
the Middle and Upper Frisco Zones. These deposits appear 
to be elongated along a general north-south trend and strad- 
dle what is thought to be a major fault or fracture zone that 
was intruded by a dolerite dike. 

The most abundant ore type at Witkop consists of 
dolomitic or algal ores ranging from 8 to 40 pet CaF 2 . Minor 
amounts of sulfides, mainly pyrite, also occur with the ore. 
"Rockspar ore" also occurs at the Witkop mine and is 
generally higher grade (40 to 75 pet CaF 2 ). The largest 
deposits, at the South Hill Pit and in the Main Pit area, ap- 
pear to be related to fluorspar replacement of block-faulted 
banded chert or banded chert laid down as younger karst- 
filled deposits. The other type of ore present at Witkop is 
eluvial ore. In the northeastern portion of the main deposit 
and along the line of the valley draining the area, the 
mineralized dolomite has been almost completely dissolved 
over an area 100 by 600 m, and high-grade ore (approx- 
imately 40 pet CaF 2 ) has been eluvially concentrated in the 
residual soil. The current demonstrated resources of 6.6 
million mt contained CaF 2 are sufficient to support the adja- 
cent mill at present levels for over 50 yr. 

Marico 

Two main types of occurrence, breccia spar (dolomitic 
spar) and wad ore (kokerman), were mined from strata- 
bound deposits containing stromatolite structures in the 



38 



Middle Frisco zone. The average thickness of the Main Pro- 
ductive Horizon is 12 m and is the same for both the breccia 
spar and wad deposits. The average fluorspar grade, ex- 
pressed in mass percent, is about twice as high in the wad 
deposits as in the breccia spar, owing to the difference in the 
relative density of these two types of deposits (35). 

High-grade rockspar ore may range from 40 to 75 pet 
CaF 2 . Where weathering has eluvially concentrated this ore 
at the surface, it was the source of metallurgical gravel spar 
for many years, prior to construction of flotation milling 
facilities. 

Transvaal 

The mineralization is elongated in a north-south trend in 
the district, which extends for about 25 km along the strike 
of the Archaean dolomite formation. Fluorspar replacement 
occurs in the Middle Frisco dolomite, almost exclusively 
within an algal-rich dolomitic horizon that exhibits a high 
degree of stratigraphic conformity. 

The fluorspar bodies occur as lenses or irregular lens- 
shaped bodies, described as metasomatic replacement type 
deposits commonly associated with lead and zinc ores. 
Associated minerals include calcite, quartz, pyrite, and 
minor quantities of pyrrhotite, galena, sphalerite, and 
chalcopyrite. Current estimates place demonstrated 
reserves at 27 million mt grading 21 pet CaF 2 . 

The deposit dips 5° to the north and is overlain by ap- 
proximately 20 m of unmineralized dolomite and 20 m of 
chert, quartzite, and shale of the Penge Iron Formation. 
Owing to the depth of the overburden, Transvaal is the only 
fluorspar operation in South Africa planning to utilize 
underground mining methods. 



Mining Methods 

All but one of the fluorspar deposits in South Africa use 
or plan to use conventional open pit mining methods. 
Benches range from 2.5 m in weathered rock to 13 m in 
harder rock. The average stripping ratios for Buffalo, 
Witkop, and Vergenoeg are low, ranging from zero at 
Vergenoeg to 1:1 at Buffalo. Most of the ore at Marico is 
under 10 to 15 m of overburden; overburden at Kruidfontein 
will range from to 20 m. Haulage distances from the 
mining area to the mill are less than 1 km at Vergenoeg, 1 
km at Witkop, 1.5 km at Buffalo, and up to 12 km at Marico. 

Marico experiences highly variable mineralization, and 
that, combined with the overburden, required that shallow 
sample drilling be performed ahead of mining at closely 
spaced intervals. After the overburden was drilled and 
blasted, it was backfilled into worked-out open pit space 
wherever possible. The cost of overburden removal, sample 
drilling, backfilling, and the distance of the haul to the mill 
greatly increased Marico's mining cost. These factors con- 
tributed to the closure of the mine in August 1982. 
Demonstrated resources of over 4.7 million mt contained 
CaF 2 remain to be exploited; however, the operations are 
not likely to resume until there is a substantial recovery of 
the fluorspar price, according to management. 

Current plans are to mine the Transvaal ore body by 
means of a mechanized room-and-pillar system, the rooms 
being 9 by 9 m and the pillars 8 by 8 m. Annual mine output 
is scheduled to be 1 million mt with an overall mining 
recovery of 70 pet (35). A 1987 startup date was assumed for 
this evaluation. 

At Transvaal, the primary crusher will be located 



533 


24 


10 


183 

310 


0. 
36.5 



18 


493 


36.5 


18 



Table B-2.— Annual capacities and fluorspar products for the 
Republic of South Africa 

CaF 2 grade, 10 3 mt 

Operation t— t-j .. . ., ^ : 

K Acid Metall. Ceramic 

Installed: 

Buffalo 206 24 10 

Marico 130 

Vergenoeg 115 

Witkop 82 

Total 

Proposed: 

Transvaal 

Kruidfontein .... 

Total 

Grand total 1,026 60.5 28 

underground at the base of the decline and will feed crushed 
ore onto the suspended ore conveyor. Dump trucks will 
transport ore from the working faces to the crusher station. 
A pumping station will be excavated near the crusher sta- 
tion to handle expected mine water drainage. 



Beneficiation 

All of the producing operations in South Africa employ 
normal fluorspar flotation processes. A magnetic separation 
stage follows flotation at two of the plants. The Buffalo mill 
has to remove phosphorus-bearing monazite, and the 
Vergenoeg mill reduces excess iron ore that may be present. 
Refer to table B-2 for the current rated capacities of the 
mills and the products produced. It should be kept in mind 
that while these are the rated capacities, the operations are 
currently operating at reduced rates. 

All of the properties have adequate water supplies and 
recirculate an average of 65 to 75 pet of their tailings water 
through the mill. The Vergenoeg mine has its own fresh- 
water dam on site to supplement the recirculation of flota- 
tion plant water (35). Water requirements for the Marico- 
Groot District are provided by the Zeerust Municipality. 
Power for the mines and mills is supplied by Escom, the 
Electricity Supply Commission. 

In response to recent drought conditions in southern 
Africa, Buffalo undertook a program to dam surface water 
on its property and funded a $500,000 improvement in 
storage capabilities for the municipal system. These actions 
have left the mine with adequate operating supplies even in 
a severe drought (2). 

The metallurgical processing plant at Transvaal has 
been designed to utilize state-of-the-art flotation processes 
as perfected at other facilities in the vicinity. The design 
capacity of the concentrator is 3,000 mt/d with an average 
CaF 2 content of 20.6 pet. An average recovery of 86 pet has 
been planned, with an overall product grade of 97 pet CaF 2 . 
The acid-grade product will be trucked to Zeerust, trans- 
ferred to rail, and transported to the port at Durban. 

The Kruidfontein ore consists of very fine grained 
fluorite in carbonatized volcanics. The preliminary 
metallurgical studies performed on diamond cores and per- 
cussion drill chips have indicated that prebeneficiation by 
gravity methods is not promising. This indicates that total 
flotation will be required with special attention paid to stage 
grinding and avoidance of sliming. Recovery of 
metallurgical- and ceramic-grade products will assist in 
making salable products of flotation middlings that would 
otherwise not meet acid-grade specifications. 

Metallurgical tests on the Kruidfontein ore have achiev- 
ed acid-grade fluorspar at a recovery ,of 60 pet. Acid grade 



39 



Table B-3.— Annual production statistics for acid-grade 
fluorspar, Hamman Zriba, 1976-83 



Acid-grade 
CaF l , 10 3 mt 

1976 15 

1977 25 

1978 29 

1979 32.5 



Acid-grade 
CaF 2 10, mt 

1980 32.9 

1981 32 

1982 34 

1983 38 e 



"Estimated. 



(97 pet CaF 2 ) was achieved by using a weak HC1 acid leach. 
Since the acid leach substantially increased the cost of ex- 
traction, other alternatives, such as the wet, high-intensity 
magnetic separation (WHIMS) techniques used at the Buf- 
falo plant, may be evaluated. A recovery of greater than 70 
pet would need to be achieved for the deposit to be con- 
sidered viable. As proposed for this study, the Kruidfontein 
beneficiation plant would have the largest capacity in South 
Africa. 

Another problem with this ore is the presence of about 1 
pet phosphorus. The maximum allowable specification for 
acid-grade is 0.03 pet P 2 5 . The acid leach has also been suc- 
cessful in reducing the phosphorus level to the specified 0.03 
pet; however, the reduction of phosphorus may be the major 
cost factor in milling this ore. 

TUNISIA 
Geology 

The Hammam Zriba fluorspar deposit is a mineralized 
manto lying at the unconformity between Upper Jurassic 
Portlandian limestone (footwall) and Upper Cretaceous 
Campanian limestone (hanging wall). It outcrops for a 
distance of about 1 km in the walls of a steep-sided canyon, 
known as Defile de Ache, on the northeast flank of the 
Zaghouan Mountains. 

The deposit parallels the bedding of the limestone, dipp- 
ing away from the canyon axis. Structurally it is a "horst 
coupee," signifying the control of the canyon as an uplifted 
structural block broken by a medial fault. The ore shows 
pronounced banding of fluorite and barite in alternating 
layers. Currently, fluorite grades range from 27 to 30 pet 
CaF 2 , and barite grades from 40 to 45 pet BaS0 4 . 

Various explanations have been offered for the origin of 
the ore, the most accepted being mineralized hydrothermal 
solution percolating along the unconformity, possibly in- 
troduced through the axial fault. It appears to be similar in 
origin to the fluorspar mantos in Coahuila, Mexico, at the 
Boquillas horizon at the top of the Santa Elena (Cretaceous) 
limestone, but those have more celestite (SrS0 4 ) rather than 
barite (BaS0 4 ) as the principal sulfate constituent and lack 
the base metal (lead-zinc) component. Otherwise, structural- 
ly and morphologically, the two are similar. 



Mining and Beneficiation 

Initially, quarry production began in 1962. 
Underground mining began in 1969 and became mechanized 
in 1978. Mining is by room and pillar methods, and the 1983 
mine program called for an annual production of 250,000 
mt, (25,000 mt waste and 225,000 mt ore). Mining extrac- 
tion recovers 85 pet of the in-place ore; 15 pet is left as 
pillars. The average grade is generally maintained at 27 pet 
CaF 2 . 



Normally, mine water is negligible, but heavy rains 
raise the water table and thermal springs flood down-dip 
workings at the southeast end of the mine. During flooding, 
pumping is required at a rate of 250 m 3 /h. 

The mill is located within 500 m of the mine portals. Ore 
is crushed and undergoes normal flotation to produce acid- 
grade concentrates. The flotation circuit was redesigned in 
1977-78 to increase feed capacity from 350 mt/d to the pres- 
ent 800 mt/d. The planned rate of 41,000 mt/yr acid-grade 
concentrate has yet to be reached and may be too close to 
the mill's rated capacity of 42,000 mt/yr to be practical. 
Table B-3 shows acid-grade production figures for the mill 
since its startup in 1975. 

Presently, the high barite content of the mill feed 
results in tailing with 60 pet BaS0 4 . These tailings could be 
a valuable coproduct in the future, and plans are also being 
discussed to recover a bulk lead-zinc sulfide concentrate. 
Weak markets are delaying the implementation of addi- 
tional circuits. 

If one, or both, of the two prospective deposits becomes 
available, FLUOBAR may expand its current capacity from 
42,000 mt/yr to 80,000 mt/yr. However, poor market condi- 
tions for acid-grade fluorspar may make it difficult for 
FLUOBAR to find a partner to help finance the expansion. 

All of the concentrate from Hammam Zriba is sold to 
ICF for conversion to aluminum fluoride at its plant in 
Gabes. During 1982, the conversion factor was 1.6 mt CaF 2 
per metric ton A1F 3 . Recession in the European aluminum 
industry made apparent the problem of dependence on a 
single outlet and industry (aluminum). ICF is reportedly 
considering the use of FLUOBAR's acid-grade fluorspar to 
make HF and possibly fluorocarbons. 

Infrastructure 

Electricity is suppled by a regional net, called STEG. 
Housing, schools, and a mosque are provided for the 
workers and staff. All other amenities are available in the 
town of Zaghouan, 10 km away. 

CHINA 

Geology 

Hubei Province 

The Hong An ore body is a vein with an average width 
of 8 m, ranging up to 21 m. Country rock is a rhyolite por- 
phyry. Gangue minerals include quartz and calcite. No 
sulfides are present. The district as a whole reportedly has 
over 5 million mt of probable resources with an average 
grade of 70 pet CaF 2 . 

Inner Mongolia 

The Da Gai Tang ore body is a vein striking north-south, 
grading 70 pet CaF 2 . Other vein minerals include quartz and 
calcite. The country rock is an acid volcanic tuff, considered 
to be Jurassic in age, which has been intruded by granitic 
rocks to the north of the mine. 

The ore body at Hei Shao Tou is a vein striking east- 
west and dipping 65° to the south in crystalline gneissic 
schist, grading about 7.0 pet CaF 2 . The vein is parallel to 
foliation. A cross-fault offsets the vein to form two sections. 
Fluorite also occurs in the area as veins and disseminated 
mineralization in siliceous limestone, as well as in the schist, 
and is also prominent in the nearby iron mines. 



40 



Jiangxi Province 

At De An, fluorspar occurs as four limestone replace- 
ment bodies along a prominent fault zone. The ore bodies 
are designated by the numbers 1 through 4, with ore bodies 
1 and 2 grading 40 pet CaF 2 . Geologic exploration underway 
on ore bodies 3 and 4 is expected to delineate much larger 
resources than in ore bodies 1 and 2. 

Shandong Province 

Ore in the Pong Lai district occurs as vein-fillings of 
faults and fractures in granite country rock. Vein material 
consists of fluorite, calcite, and silica. Sulfides are sparse, 
chiefly appearing as finely divided pyrite. Six other mines in 
the district are said to be geologically similar to Pong Lai. A 
total of 23 veins have been identified in the district, which 
covers an area of 100 km 2 . Resources for the district are not 
fully defined, as the area has not been systematically ex- 
plored. 

Zhejiang Province 

The Wu Yi district is the most intensely mineralized in 
all China's known fluorspar areas and is also the most 
developed. The mines are on a series of en-echelon veins 
that strike approximately east-west to form the en-echelon 
patterns. The veins occupy a fracture system in a por- 
phyritic acidic tuff country rock. Vein materials consist of 
fluorite, calcite, and silica. Sulfides are negligible. 

A geologic team operates in the district, mapping and 
drilling on a continuing basis. Zhejiang Province has 60 loca- 
tions currently in production, although most are on a 
modest scale, producing hand-sorted metallurgical lump by 
local communes. The 13 mines that feed the Dong Feng mill 
were included in this evaluation. Fluorspar has been found 
in 144 locations in the province, denoting a long-term poten- 
tial beyond the life of demonstrated resources in the Wu Yi 
district itself. 



Mining Methods 

Most of the mines in China use underground shrinkage 
stoping methods to recover ore from their vein ore bodies. 
Stopes are usually left open and not backfilled. Mines are 
labor-intensive, as shown by the lack of mechanization; ore 
cars are typically hand-trammed and metallurgical grades 
of fluorspar are produced by hand-cobbing methods. The 
metallurgical lump is normally produced in grade in- 
crements from 80-85 pet to 90-95 pet CaF 2 , with some lower 
or higher grades specially produced from certain mines for 
specific customers. Resulting low grade "broken pieces" are 
used for feed at the flotation mills. 

Initially, the veins in the Hong An and Wu Yi districts 
were mined by open pit methods and eventually went 
underground, where shrinkage stoping methods were used. 
The Hong An district usually backfills the stopes. Ore pro- 
duction at mines in the Wu Yi district is scheduled to in- 
crease from 450,000 to over 537,000 mt/yr to accommodate 
an additional flotation circuit installed in 1983. 

Mining in the De An district began in 1959 with small 
open pits producing roughly 20,000 mt/yr. Substantial ex- 
pansion in the mid-1970's took place, and currently two open 
pits are being worked on ore bodies 1 and 2. Both mines 
have 10 faces being hand-mined simultaneously. Operating 
with a stripping ratio of 1:1, approximately 135,000 mt/yr 
ore is produced. 



Table B-4.— Annual production capacities and fluorspar 
products for China, 1983 

CaF ; grade, 10 3 mt 

Mill T — 7-. ■ ■ . ,, — ; 

Acid Metall. Ceramic 

Bai Yun He Pe -5 5 

De An 2 20 15 3 

Dong Feng 3 102 200 

Fu Shan 11.5 (") 

Hong An 39 50 

Hua De 6 25.6 

Xian Shan 12 37 

Total 195.5 332.6 3 

'Could double production with idle equipment. 
'Could expand to 50,000 or 100,000 mt/yr as ore bodies 3 and 4 are 
developed. 
J Pellet plant with capacity of 30,000 mt/yr idle since 1977. 
■■Metallurgical production included with Xian Shan. 



Beneficiation 

Metallurgical and ceramic grades of fluorspar are pro- 
duced with hand-cobbing methods. Acid-grade concentrates 
are produced from "broken pieces" of low-grade ore rejected 
from hand-cobbing. The annual capacities for each of the 
mills evaluated and the grades of fluorspar produced from 
each associated mining district are shown in table B-4. A 
brief discussion of the mills and fluorspar produced in each 
province follows. 

Hubei Province 

The Hong An mine has historically produced six grades 
of metallurgical-grade fluorspar in 5-pct increments, rang- 
ing from 65-69 pet to 90-94 pet CaF 2 . Two higher grades are 
also produced, 95-97 pet and 98 pet CaF 2 . The largest ton- 
nages produced are 80-84 pet and 90-94 pet CaF 2 . 

A flotation mill was scheduled for completion in July 
1983, with a projected capacity of 39,000 mt/yr acid-grade 
fluorspar concentrate. Mill tailings from the flotation plant 
will have to be pumped a distance of 5 km to a storage dam. 
Tailings have to be pumped that distance to avoid con- 
tamination of the local lake, which is an important source of 
fish. 

The acid-grade filter cake will be bagged in returnable 
1-mt nylon bags, or dried in a coal-fired drier and bagged in 
50-kg bags. Products are either trucked 100 km to a rail 
siding or 137 km to the Chan Jiang River for barging to the 
ocean port of Shanghai. 

Inner Mongolia 

From the Hei Shou Tou mine, both acid and 
metallurgical grades of ore are trucked 35 km to the Bai 
Yun He Pe flotation mill. The mill, completed in 1970, treats 
"broken pieces" averaging 60 pet CaF 2 from the 
metallurgical hand-cobbing operation. If the market war- 
rants, the mill's output could be doubled from the present 
5,000 mt/yr utilizing presently idle equipment. All acid- 
grade is shipped in 50 kg nylon bags; metallurgical lump is 
shipped in bulk. The acid-grade product is 96 pet CaF 2 , 
which does not meet current U.S. Customs' specifications of 
97 pet. 

The Hua De mill was idle during the 1983 site visit 
because of weak acid-grade fluorspar demand. However, 
the mines continued to operate, and mill feed was being 
stockpiled. Built in 1982 with Chinese-made equipment, the 
mill only produced 1,000 mt before operations ceased. The 
mill is kept ready and could be restarted within 2 weeks. Its 



41 



rated capacity is 6,000 mt/yr of acid-grade concentrate pro- 
duced by normal flotation. The flotation concentrate is 
thickened, filtered, and bagged in 50 kg bags. 

Jiangxi Province 

Ore from the De An mines is hand-trammed to the wash 
plant or to ore bins where its trucked to the flotation mill. 
The wash plant is hand-operated and produces ceramic- and 
metallurgical-grade products. The flotation mill began pro- 
duction of acid-grade fluorspar in 1981 and has a rated 
capacity of 20,000 mt/yr. Owing to a weak market, the mill 
was closed at the end of 1982, but was scheduled to reopen 
by March 1983. The operation also has a coal-fired dryer 
available. 

As the fluorspar market improves, plans are to expand 
the De An flotation mill to produce 50,000 mt/yr acid-grade 
concentrates. If ore bodies 3 and 4 prove out as hoped, the 
mill could be expanded to 100,000 mt/yr. 

Some of the concentrates are bagged using 25- and 
50-kg woven plastic bags with a waterproof plastic insert. 
Large nylon bags holding 1 mt are used for bulk shipments 
of acid-grade concentrate. 

Shandong Province 

The Fu Shan mill was built as a copper mill in 1958, and 
converted to fluorspar flotation in 1981. Only one-third of 
the original copper capacity is being used for the fluorspar 
operation. Acid-grade concentrates are trucked to port or 
rail at Yan Tai, which is 25 km from the Fu Shan mill. 

The Xian Shan mill was originally an iron ore flotation 
mill, built in 1968. In 1981 it was converted to make acid- 
grade fluorspar. The conversion required new flotation 
cells, boiler, conditioner tanks, and a filter; otherwise, ex- 
isting equipment was used. 

Acid -grade filter cake is stored in bulk or in 1-mt return- 
able nylon bags, which are used to transport the product to 
port. The metallurgical and acid-grade products are trucked 
to port or rail at Yan Tai, 95 km from Pong Lai and 37 km 
from Xian Shan. 

Zhejiang Province 

After hand-cobbing at Wu Yi mines to obtain 
metallurgical-grade lump, the remaining ore (225,000 mt/yr) 
is fed through the Dong Feng acid-grade mill. With the new 
flotation circuit installed in 1983, the mill capacity will be 
102,000 mt/yr of acid-grade concentrates. A pellet plant has 
a capacity of 30,000 mt/yr of 90-pct-CaF 2 pellets, but has 
been idle since 1977. Oil-fired dryers are available to dry 
acid-grade for use in the domestic HF industry. 



Infrastructure 

Electricity is supplied from a regional net, and coal from 
local mines supplies heating needs. Tailings impoundments 
are generally adequate for 20 yr of production at current 
rates. Most equipment is Chinese made and maintained. 



Transportation 

Fluorspar is consumed domestically by the steel, 
aluminum, and fluorocarbon industries, and is exported to 



Table B-5.— Transportation methods and distances from 
Chinese fluorspar mills to ports or point of consumption 



Mill 



Destination 



Distance 
km 



Method 



Hua De 
De An' 



Bai Yun He Pe 2 



Hong An 3 



Fu Shan . . 
Xian Shan 
Dong Feng 



Tianjin 

Railhead 
To Jiu Jiang 
To Shanghai 
Railhead 
To Tianjin . . . 
To Bao Tou . 

Wuhan 

To Shanghai 

Yan Tai 

..do 

Jinhua 

To Shanghai 



600 


Rail. 


30 


Truck. 


50 


Rail. 


775 


Barge. 


85 


Truck. 


1,020 


Rail. 


150 


Do 


137 


Truck. 


1,000 


Barge. 


25 


Truck. 


37 


Do 


31 


Do 


420 


Rail. 



'Products trucked to railhead, railed to Jiu Jiang, then barged to 
Shanghai. 

Products trucked to railhead, then railed to Bao Tou for domestic use, 
or to Shanghai for export. 

'Products trucked to Wuhan, then barged to Shanghai. 

Japan, Europe, and to United States; undetermined 
amounts also go the North Korea and the U.S.S.R. The 
Chinese Government pays a bonus for exported material 
earning foreign exchange (yuan 30/mt, or $15/mt). The 
ceramic-grade fluorspar produced from De An, and acid- 
grade products from Bai Yun He Pe and Hua De, currently 
do not meet U.S. Customs' specifications, and therefore 
these particular products are not be exported to the United 
States. 

For this evaluation, it was assumed that all fluorspar is 
exported through three major ports: Tianjin, in Tianjin Shi; 
Shanghai, in Jiangsu; and Yan Tai in Shandong. These are 
among the 11 first-class harbors in China. Yan Tai can berth 
12 ships at one time and guarantees a loading rate for 
fluorspar of 1,200 mt/d, weather permitting. 

Inside the harbor at Shanghai the water is deep and ice- 
free all year round, but 10,000 mt ships must wait for high 
tide at the estuary of the Woosung River. Ships of 5,000 to 
6,000 mt can enter at any tide. About 100 ships can berth 
simultaneously along the line from Woosung to Manlitsui. 
Wharf facilities are good, and loading and discharging 
facilities are partially mechanized. 

Tianjin is 44 nautical miles from the estuary of Hai Ho 
River. Two other ports, Tangku and Hsinkang, are only 13 
nautical miles from the estuary. The harbor group formed 
by these three ports is the third busiest in China. The chan- 
nel approach is narrow, winding, subject to constant silting, 
and ice-bound for 3 months of the year. Despite continuous 
dredging, the channel is at best open to vessels with 4.5 m 
draft. Vessels up to 99.05 m in length can proceed up to 
Tianjin via lock to Hai Ho. Mechanical loading and discharg- 
ing facilities are available. 

Table B-5 lists the distance, method of transportation, 
and destination of fluorspar products from the seven mills 
evaluated. Transportation costs run the equivalent of 
$0.05/mt-km for trucking, $0.015/mt-km for rail, and 
$0.005/mt-km for barging, in 1982 U.S. dollars. 



THAILAND 



Geology 

Fluorspar occurrences in the northern sector tend to be 
in limestone terrain at or near granitic bodies, often as veins 
in faults or along limestone-granite contacts, although they 
also occur as veins with granite on both walls (12). 



42 



Limestome in the middle sector, at Phanom Thuan, ap- 
pears as horses in the ore body, indicating it to be a replace- 
ment of limestone in a predominantly paragneiss-schist ter- 
rain, here intruded by a pegmatite alongside the ore. At 
Salak Pra the country rock is wholly limestone, and the 
veins appear to be epithermal. The ore at Takien Ngam is 
along a granite-limestone contact, with subsidiary 
mineralized showings in both rock types adjacent to the 
vein. At Tao Dam the ore is wholly within granite (12). 

The main ore body in the southern sector at Krabi oc- 
curs as fracture-filling in a series of interbedded shales and 
quartzitic sandstones, with pods of limestone, overlying a 
massive limestone. Nearby the collapse breccia of a 
limestone sinkhole is mineralized, indicating late origin of 
that fluorspar emplacement or a late remobilization (12). 

Given these geologic conditions and relating them to the 
geology of the world's largest fluorspar ore bodies, it is not 
unlikely that large limestone replacement mantos remain to 
be discovered in a suitable limestone host. Also a major vein 
in granite is a possibility, similar to the large Osor ore body 
in northeastern Spain. 

Demonstrated resources are defined only through the 
late 1980's at most of the sites, while a few have adequate 
resources to last until the early 1990's. Takien Ngam was 
the only operation with sufficient reserves outlined to con- 
tinue mining beyond the year 2000. At the time of the site 
visits in 1983, Thaivat Mining Co. had just retained the serv- 
ices of a geologist to define additional resources at its Tao 
Dam mine. However, most of the operations continue along 
easily identifiable traces of fluorspar, and organized ex- 
ploration has not been a part of Thailand's mining plans un- 
til recently. Buyers looking for reliable sources of fluorspar 
are encouraging some of the companies to initiate explora- 
tion programs. For the purposes of this evaluation, 
resources become depleted within the next 10 yr; however, 
it is unlikely that this will be the case. 

Mining Methods 

The operations of Thailand utilize both open pit and 
underground mining methods. The operations at Phanom 
Thuan, Takien Ngam, and SK Minerals are mined from 
open pits; while Mae La Luang and Salak Pra utilize open 
stoping. Tao Dam uses both shrinkage stoping and open pit 
methods to meet production levels. All utilize hand-mining 
and hand-sorting techniques, with minimal crushing done by 
jaw crushers at a few of the sites. The Mae Tha District is 
largely depleted, but Universal Fluorspar Mining (UFM) 
had about 1 million mt of tailings to reprocess at the site. 

Phanom Thuan has demonstrated reserves of 300,000 
mt, but the remaining reserves occur 18 m below the pres- 
ent pit floor, which is at water level now. Continued opera- 
tion of this mine will depend on the company's ability to han- 
dle pumping problems and the associated costs. For this 
evaluation, the entire reserve was considered minable, 
allowing for production into 1987. 

Independent miners are an important source of ore; 
most of the ore is obtained by hand methods, in some cases 
from sites considered to be depleted by the larger mining 
companies. Ore is sold directly to the companies operating 
acid-grade mills, or to intermediate companies which sell 
metallurgical-grade products or acid-grade feed. Thepnithi 
is one such intermediate company with a 5-yr contract to 
supply metallurgical products to the U.S.S.R. Having essen- 
tially depleted its own reserves, Thepnithi now buys its 
fluorspar from other producers, usually independents. 



Table B-6.— Annual capacities and fluorspar products for 
Thailand, 1983 

CaF 2 , 10 3 mt 
°P eration Acid Metall. 

SK Minerals '22 

Thai Fluorite Processing Co.: Ban Lard . 47 

United Fluorspar Co.: 

Salak Pra ( 2 ) 6 

Takien Ngam 15 

Universal Mining Co.: 

Mae La Luang 21 

Mae Tha 30 

Phanom Thuan ( 3 ) 15 

Total 69 87 

'Additional capacity installed doubled 11,000 mt. 
2 Acid-grade feed (9,000 mt) to Ban Lard mill. 
3 Acid-grade feed (15,000 mt) to Ban Lard mill. 



Beneficiation 

Five of the operations evaluated produced 
metallurgical-grade products. These products were hand- 
sorted and/or screened to meet product grades. Beneficia- 
tion was not required for these products. Two companies 
produce acid-grade concentrates, Krabi International 
Fluorite Co. (KIF), also know as SK Minerals; and Thai 
Fluorite Processing Co. (TFP). TFP is the operator of the 
Ban Lard mill through its affiliate, Thaivat Mining Co. 

The SK Minerals heavy media plant and flotation mill 
was moved from Germany to Thailand in 1977-78 and has 
been producing acid-grade fluorspar since 1979. Additional 
capacity at the mill was nearly completed in early 1983. This 
will double monthly current feed capacity from 4,000 to 
8,000 mt. Assuming doubling of the best year's production 
(11,000 mt in 1982), future output could be 22,000 mt/yr 
acid-grade products. 

Ban Lard acid-grade fluorspar mill was built in 1972 as 
a joint venture by Jalaprathan Cement Co. and Kaiser Ce- 
ment and Gypsum. Thaivat Mining Co. bought the mill in 
December 1980. The flotation mill has a rated capacity of 
54,000 mt/yr acid-grade fluorspar, however, it has been 
operating at reduced levels because of the weak fluorspar 
market. A production level of nearly 47,000 mt/yr acid- 
grade was assumed for this evaluation. 

At 72,000 mt/yr, Tao Dam supplies approximately one- 
half the feed required by the Ban Lard mill. S.L. Mining Co. 
purchases ore from other miners to supplement Tao Dam 
ore; in January 1983, ore was obtained from 12 other pro- 
ducers. This contributes to the current difficulties faced by 
TFP in controlling the mill feed. If exploration proves addi- 
tional resources, Tao Dam will attempt to supply all of the 
feed material to Ban Lard in the future. 

Table B-6 lists the annual capacities and products pro- 
duced from the Thai operations. This table represents 
capacities, not actual production rates, which have been 
lower because of weak fluorspar markets. 



FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY 



Geology 

Fluorspar is found in vein structures in the northern 
Black Forest region of West Germany. In this region, host 
rocks are cut by over 60 veins, principally barite and oxide 
iron ore. In contrast, the fluorite vein's mineralization is 
more than 90 pet fluorspar and quartz-chalc ( edony, the rest 
being barite, siderite, and dispersed traces of sulfides. 



43 



Strong brecciation is a common feature thought to have oc- 
curred in two phases, each accompanied by renewed 
mineralization introduced in fracturing of the originally 
emplaced fluorspar. 

Veins containing fluorspar and barite are located in a 
gneiss complex in the central regions of the Black Forest. 
The mineralization is assumed to have occurred during late 
Tertiary tectonic fracturing of the host rocks, though some 
students of the area place mineralization as Upper Car- 
boniferous age. 

Mining and Beneficiation 

Sublevel caving and stoping methods with cemented 
backfill are employed. FSP has a flotation mill on the Rhine 
River by the city of Karlsruhe. The mill treats ore from 
Kaefersteige, Gottesehre, and purchased ores from France 
and Spain. The product is an acid-grade concentrate which 
supplies the parent company's (Bayer) hydrofluoric acid 
(HF) operation in Leverkusen. The concentrates are barged 
on the Rhine River from the mill to the HF plant. 

Sachtleben Bergbau's flotation mill is located near 
Wolfach, and the original barite operation was modified to 
include fluorspar recovery as well. This mill produces acid- 
grade fluorspar concentrates, with minor amounts of a 
ceramic-grade fluorspar, as well as several barite products. 
Sachtleben has no captive use for the fluorspar and sells it to 
domestic consumers and to the Netherlands. An occasional 
shipment of raw ore may be sent to FSP's mill. 

FRANCE 



Geology 



Escaro 



Denain Anzin operated open pit iron mines at the 
Escaro site for many years. The open pit operation was 
preceded by much underground drifting in two parallel 
related ore bodies, the Sahorre on the east and Escaro to 
the west. The longest structure, Pla-Ma-Gante, is the only 
remaining ore body in operation. 

Fluorspar was not recognized until 1957 and was be- 
lieved to be white quartz lying alongside the iron ore, an ear- 
thy hematite. Subsequently, the old iron mine drifts were 
reentered and much exploration drifting was done in the old 
workings for fluorspar. The ground is said to be undrillable, 
rotten schist. 

The fluorspar and iron ore follow bedding planes in 
Cambrian schist. Most of the iron ore was mined out many 
years ago, exposing fluorspar under old workings. The 
fluorspar is white, usually amorphous, with iron staining in 
the fractures. Most of the fluorspar is located within an 
overturned fold, in a series of marbles and mostly schistose 
metamorphic rocks. 

The tabular ore body lies in a synclinal trough in the 
overturned fold. The fluorspar structure is 1 to 1.5 km long, 
averages 1 to 3 km thick, and is 80 to 100 m wide, with 80 to 
100 m of rocky overburden. Both the ore and overburden 
are brecciated, and the east end terminates against a fault. 

Le Burc 

The geologic environment consists of granite, schists, 
and other metamorphic rocks of Paleozoic age. The area has 
been subjected to intense folding and faulting. 



The Le Burc deposit occupies a fracture running N 110° 
E, which dips 60° to the north. Mineralization extends 1,000 
m, is 200 m deep. Crossfaults cut the vein into three sec- 
tions. Gangue minerals are quartz with minor siderite and 
chalcopyrite. As mined, the ore grade will average 75 pet 
CaF 2 , with some massive sections having grades up to 95 
pet CaF 2 . This is the highest grade fluorspar deposit 
presently being mined in France. 

Montroc 

The ore deposit consists of an east-west vein, with a 
branching vein striking N 60° to 70° E. The fluorspar oc- 
curs in massive crystals of white, green, and blue, with some 
disseminations of barite in them. The grade of the ore 
averages 54 pet CaF 2 with gangue similar to that at Le 
Burc. 



Fontsante 

Most of the minable fluorspar mineralization has been 
found in a series of east-west-trending vertical veins in 
granite gneiss. The mine is famous for being a source of 
cellaite (MgF 2 ). Cellaite, a white mineral, can easily be 
detected from the white amorphous fluorite by its color 
under black fluorescent light. Cellaite floats with the 
fluorspar and is desirable in making aluminum fluoride and 
artificial cryolite because it contains a slightly higher 
fluorine content than fluorspar. 

Demonstrated resources are estimated at 380,000 mt. 
Ore grades 40 to 42 pet CaF 2 and 9 pet MgF 2 , with the veins 
turning to barite and quartz at depth. The cellaite ranges 
from 2 to 16 pet. Depending upon which part of the vein is 
being mined, barite is not saved. Owing to the nature of the 
hard granitic country rock, very little core drilling is done, 
with reliance on surface exposures to locate veins. 

Rossignol 

The fluorite district is located on the northwest edge of 
the Massif Central in the extreme northern part of 
Limousin. It has classic fluorite veins in gneiss and mica 
schists on the periphery of granitic batholiths. The deposit, 
striking NW-SE, has an average thickness of 30 m and has 
been traced for 3 km in length and 100 m in depth. On the 
west the vein flattens, which gives it the appearance of a 
sedimentary deposit. 

As at Fontsante, very little diamond drilling is done ow- 
ing to the great expense involved. There is much 
dependence upon district experience and on continuity at 
depth and along strike. As of 1984, about 1.5 million mt was 
considered demonstrated resources, as defined by drifts and 
raises in the vein. Vein width and grade appears to improve 
with depth, with no weakening of the vein along strike. The 
average grade is 65.8 pet CaF 2 . Barite is also recovered 
grading 16.9 pet BaS0 4 , with 2.3 pet PbS. 

Morvan District 

There are about 10 economic and subeconomic fluorspar 
deposits in a 200 km 2 area around the Morvan Regional 
Park. Although there are some differences due to the 
lithologic nature of the host beds, the stratiform fluorite 
deposits of the sedimentary cover of the Morvan can be 
grouped as a single type. All of the stratiform deposits with 
large tonnages of fluorspar are found as limestone and 
sandstone replacement bodies in a thin stratigraphic inter- 



44 



Table B-7.— Deposits of the Morvan District, France {39) 

Re i S 0°^ C t eS ' grffefpct gg£ <»™™' 

Pierre Perthuis: 

Dampierre Forest 2.0 35.0 15 ) ... .. ,. _... ,. , 

Epenay Forest 1.8 38.5 9 j Mineralization in Chitry limestone. 

Pontaubert 1.7 38.0 10 In Chitry, much with no overburden. 

Marigny-sur-Yonne 1.6 32.0 NAp Associated with N-S fault where Chitry outcrops. 

Only deposit previously mined for metspar. 

Ergeuil 1.0 40.0 NAp Mineralization outcrops where Chitry is faulted, 

overlain with to 20 m of Keuper marl. 

Champallement and St. Reverien 1.0 NA NA Exploration incomplete, tonnage assumed for 

study. 

Courcelles-Fremoy: 

Courcelles .97 39.7 7.6} Mineralized horizon in calcarenite, 2 blocks split 

Fremoy 1.6 34.6 24 j by narrow valley. 

Antully: Mineralization in Triassic age sandstone close to 

Marquisat 3.5 34.0 NAp j granite or gneiss contact. Charbonniere needs 

Charbonniere 1.8 34.0 NAp j more drilling. 

Total or weighted average 16.97 '35.6 M3.5 

'Weighted-average grade CaF 2 for all deposits excluding Champallement and St. Reverien. 
2 Weighted-average grade BaS0 4 for those deposits reporting a barite grade. 







I 


s Avcillon 




i 


Clamecy P | ERRE _ AprjNTAUBERT 
PERTHUIS A DAMPIERRE FOREST 
A-EPENAY FOREST 


A COURCELLES-FREMOY 


1 


A MARIGNY-SUR-YONNE 






A CHAMPALLEMENT 






# Montrevillon 
AeGREUIL 


# Arnay le Due 

Autun 

A ANTULLY 
A Charbonniere 
A ANTULLY 
Marquisat 


.Beaune 


Moulins 

• 







LEGEND 

Cities 

Deposits 



o 

Li_ 



20 



30 
I 



Scale, Km 



40 

_l 



Figure B-1.— Locations of fluorspar deposits in the Morvan District, France. 



45 



val between the weathered granite basement rocks and an 
impervious Mesozoic capping of marly clay. Fracture 
systems formed channelways for circulating mineralizing 
solutions, but vein fluorspar in the area is not important. 
Barite is an important coproduct but is considered a possible 
metallurgical separation problem (39). 

The drill-proven demonstrated ore resources of the 
seven fluorspar deposits outlined for this evaluation total 17 
million mt, grading between 32 and 40 pet CaF 2 , with barite 
ranging from 5 to 25 pet BaS0 4 . Four of the principal 
deposits located in the northwest Morgan district have been 
formed in the Chitry Limestone formation: These are the 
Pierre-Perthuis, Pontaubert, Marigny-sur-Yonne, and 
Ergeuil. Mineralization of the Courcelles-Fremoy deposit in 
the northeastern part of the district is represented by some 
calcarenites of uncertain age, and includes barite as well as 
fluorite. The two deposits at Antully are in the east-central 
portion of the Morvan in Triassic sandstone overlying the 
Chitry (39). 

Table B-7 is a deposit listing for the Morvan District, 
and figure B-l shows the relative location of these deposits. 
The areal extent of the ore bodies is between 25 and 50 ha 
with the single deposits of minable size being 5 to 15 ha, 
separated by intervals of low-grade, disseminated 
mineralization or completely barren zones. Ore body 
thickness usually runs from 2 to 4 m, with tonnages ranging 
from 1 to 4 million mt in each ore body. Most of the ore is 
siliceous (39). 

Mining Methods 

Producing Operations 

In 1983, five vein mines were operating in France; two 
of the operations were open pits, three were underground 
operations. All of the mines, except Rossignol, were 
operated by Pechiney. Rossignol is owned by Societe in- 
dustrielle du Centre (SIC). 

At Escaro, mining is limited by the excessive over- 
burden removal, which amounts to 30 to 35 mt waste for 
each metric ton of ore mined. High labor costs and a poor 
fluorspar market impair profitability at this operation, as do 
excessive overburden removal costs. The shattered nature 
of the overburden, however, precludes underground min- 
ing. Present open pit mining constantly intercepts previous 
iron mine drifts, usually over the fluorspar, which are now 
caved and full of timbers. 

Mine production at the Le Burc operation was about 
40,000 mt/yr in 1982, only-30,000 mt was produced in 1983 
(19). The mine has recently switched from a shrinkage stop- 
ing method, which is quite labor intensive, to a method 
called "overhead slicing with inclined backfill." This method 
permits careful control of roof conditions and loose wall 
slabs. The method lends itself to safer mining practices 
because miners work on the fill close to the roof at all times. 
Broken ore, in steps, is removed by rubber-tired, front-end 
loaders, and fill is brought in to fill the void, which raises the 
work floor level. Overburden from nearby Montroc and 
heavy media tails are the source of the fill. There is still 
about 10-pct ore dilution, but this is an improvement over 
the old method. 

In making metallurgical-grade gravel fluorspar, coarse 
fragmentation is desired and production of excessive fines is 
avoided. Working close to the back with this new method 
permits better size control. Even though there was a heavy 
investment in development for the transition, Le Burc 



management claims that mining costs, including recovery of 
such costs, has improved 67 pet, about half of which was 
from a reduction of labor cost per metric ton mined. 

The production rate at the Montroc open pit mine was 
120,000 mt/yr at the time of the site visit; production was 
split between Montroc's acid plant (100,000 mt/yr) and Le 
Burc's heavy media plant (20,000 mt/yr). Ore dilution of up 
to 50 pet is experienced in some areas of the mine, due to the 
presence of barren zones in the ore body. The average dilu- 
tion was assumed to be about 20 pet. 

Because there is a high hill next to the Montroc open pit, 
approximately 2 million mt/yr of waste must be removed, 
resulting in a stripping ratio of almost 17:1. Some of this 
overburden is hauled to Le Burc for use as stope backfill. 
Since Le Burc ships some of its ore to Montroc for concen- 
tration into acid-grade fluorspar, the waste is carried back 
in some of the same trucks used to haul ore to Montroc. 

Mining at Fontsante and Rossignol is by traditional 
shrinkage stoping, with wooden chutes. At Fontsante, the 
shaft bottom arrangement and hoisting capacity are a pro- 
duction bottleneck, but reserves remaining as of 1984 are 
sufficient only through 1987, making further mine 
mechanization unlikely. Although subsidence at Rossignol is 
apparent at the surface, the mine is not located where it 
would damage structures, roads, or other improvements. 
Stope filling is not practiced at either site. 

Morvan District 

Each of the seven sites included in the Morvan District 
could warrant one or more open pit mines with moderate 
stripping ratios. Pechiney has proposed developing two 
open pit mines, not necessarily one at a time, on the Pierre- 
Perthuis ore body, and building a flotation mill nearby. The 
size of each mine will depend upon the needs and policies of 
Pechiney and whether or not it has a desire to develop ex- 
port capabilities. Major considerations are how to contend 
with environmental concerns of the neighboring people who 
live near or have farms over the concessions; the minerals, 
however, belong to the state. For this evaluation, it was 
assumed that if all environmental problems could be over- 
come, a 5-yr lead-time would be required prior to produc- 
tion. 

The mill would be of the smallest economic size, to prove 
to the community that the open pit mine and a flotation mill 
could operate in an environmentally responsible manner. 
Once the small operation has proven that mining can be 
done without permanent and unsightly damage, larger min- 
ing and milling operations would be planned (36). 

This evaluation assumed that the pilot operation would 
mine 80,000 mt/yr, and would precede further development 
by 4 yr. Full-scale operations would mine 1 million mt/yr 
from several open pits, with reductions to 500,000 mt/yr 
during years when mining sites are moved from one location 
to another. This plan provides for production over 20 yr, but 
it should be kept in mind that resources are not fully defined 
and that environmental concerns may hinder initial develop- 
ment or further development. 



Beneficiation 



Producing Operations 

The Escaro mill at Olette receives ore from an aerial 
tram and processes acid-grade fluorspar through grinding, 



46 



flotation, filtration, and drying. The annual capacity is ap- 
proximately 51,300 mt. Because of the ease in milling this 
ore, the grade of the flotation product is over 97 pet CaF 2 , 
or acid-grade. A subacid-grade could be made for the 
ceramic industry if needed. A bagging machine is available 
with 1,000-to 1,500-mt bulk storage capacity. 

All milling at Le Burc is done by heavy media separa- 
tion. The plant can accept 60,000 mt/yr of Le Burc feed 
when operating at full capacity. An additional 20,000 mt/yr 
capacity exists to process Montroc ore to a ceramic-grade 
concentrate. The grades of metallurgical gravel range from 
80 to 90 pet CaF 2 . 

The Le Burc plant produces about 24,000 mt/yr 
metallurgical-grade and about 5,500 mt/yr of ceramic-grade 
fluorspar from Montroc ore. Approximately 7,600 mt/yr of 
Le Burc ore is shipped to the Montroc acid-grade plant, 
which has a capacity of 60,000 mt/yr. The Montroc mill is a 
standard flotation mill, with drying and bagging facilities 
available. 

The Fontsante ore grade is high enough that heavy 
media preconcentration is not required. After normal flota- 
tion, the filter cake is dried and a 97.5 pet CaF 2 product is 
recovered. Capacity is 44,800 mt/yr of acid-grade fluorspar. 
During processing, cellaite is saved, but the barite present is 
not. In addition, the concentrate contains between 1 and 15 
pet MgF 2 , which is considered a bonus. Although the 
presence of cellaite aids in the marketability of the acid- 
grade product, there was no known premium paid for it. 

Milling at Rossignol consists of two heavy media con- 
centration stages. The product is a metallurgical gravel 
fluorspar, grading 88 to 93 pet CaF 2 . Production capacity is 
about 35,000 mt/yr, but slow markets have reduced output 
to around 23,000 mt/yr. 

A market exists for a mixed barite and lead concentrate 
mixture for the making of heavy concrete used in making 
weights for pipelines for river crossings. The Rossignol mill 
produces about 6,000 mt/yr of this lead-barite concentrate. 
The barite is usually sold domestically; however, minor 
amounts are sold for use as drilling muds in the North Sea. 

Morvan District 

Owing to the locations of the resources, it may take four 
mill sites to serve the Morvan groups so that haulage from 
pit to mill can be kept to less than 10 km. For the purposes 
of this study, it was assumed that the proposed pilot plant 
built at Pierre-Perthuis would have a rated capacity of 230 
mt/d. This acid-grade flotation mill would be located in a hid- 
den valley in the northeast portion of the Dampierre block, 
just off the ore deposit. It was also assumed that two 
1,500-mt/d mills would be built and placed into production 4 
yr after initial production of the pilot plant. The order of 
development will depend not only on economics, but also 
upon the response of the surrounding communities. The two 
larger mills would each be relocated once in order to mine all 
of the presently outlined reserves. 

The totally enclosed mills would contain all the 
operating sections: crushing, screening, classifying, grind- 
ing, thickening, conditioning, rougher flotation, primary 
cleaning, scavenging, final cleaning, pump storage tanks, 
filtration, drying, dust collecting, and concentrate storage, 
plus possibly a bagging facility. With an average feed of 
greater than 35 pet CaF 2 , heavy media preconcentration is 
not justified, either from a cost viewpoint or a double tailing 
loss. Recovery has been estimated to be about 85 pet. 

The Morvan acid-grade concentrate will eventually be 
needed to replace tonnages from current operations that 



are nearing depletion. Products would probably be shipped 
to the Pechiney HF plant at Ales. As France now imports 
much of its fluorspar requirements, there is also some 
pressure in favor of development of the Morvan properties 
to reduce some of the import dependency. 



Transportation 

All acid-grade fluorspar from Escaro is sold domestical- 
ly, and is trucked and railed a distance of 225 km to the 
Usine de Salindres at Ales, which is the Pechiney chemical 
plant that makes A1F 3 and artificial cryolite for the use of 
Pechiney. If the product were to be exported, it would most 
likely be shipped through Port Vendres (70 km) for con- 
sumers in Italy or other southern destinations, and through 
Bordeaux (410 km) for shipments to northern Europe or the 
United States. Fluorspar concentrates produced at Montroc 
and Fontsante are also sent to the Pechiney's HF plant in 
Ales. Any concentrates from the proposed Morvan District 
headed for export would probably be shipped from the port 
at Bordeaux for northern destinations, or from Port Ven- 
dres near the Spanish border for southern destinations. 

Metallurgical gravel from Le Burc is trucked directly to 
steel mill consumers in northeastern France, or to the 
railhead at Albi. For Rossignol's metallurgical gravel and 
lead-barite products, transportation costs are the respon- 
sibility of the consumer; trucking is available for the 25 km 
to the railhead at Argenton. Approximately 85 pet of the 
fluorspar produced is exported to West Germany's steel 
mills in the Rhine Valley, a distance of about 650 km. 



ITALY 



Geology 

Mineraria Silius S.p.A. 

Mineralization at the Mineraria Silius S.p.A. mines is 
considered to be hydrothermal in origin, centering on two 
vein systems named "San Giorgio" and "San Giuseppe." The 
veins contain fluorspar, barite, galena, some sphalerite, 
calcite, and quartz, with some silver values in the galena. 
These veins are roughly parallel, 1 to 5 m wide. At 200 to 
300 m deep they converge to form a single vein 4 to 6 m 
wide. 

Demonstrated ore resources as of 1983 were estimated 
at 8 million mt with average grades of 38 pet CaF 2 , 12 pet 
BaS0 4 , and 2 pet Pb. The bottom of the mineralization has 
not been located, as underground drilling holes are still in- 
tersecting ore below the bottom level. Exploration is almost 
entirely done inside the mine, driving along strike of the 
veins and probing the bottom. 

Domusnovas 

The areas of interest include the Su Barracconi, Bega 
d' Aleni, Perda Niedda, and Rio Bolentino. The mineraliza- 
tion present in the area can be subdivided in the following 
types of deposition: vein mineralizations, often found in 
karst limestones; contact mineralizations; and alluvial 
mineralizations. Recent alluvials are the site of the biggest 
fluorite-barite deposit in the Su Barracconi area, and at 
Baga d' Aleni these minerals 'are deposited in recent 
alluvials and in limestone karsts. 



47 



Around the old Perda Niedda iron mine, the outcrops in 
the pits contain fluorspar with accessory iron and zinc 
minerals. The ore is seen to persist in several old galleries in 
the pit walls. Fluorspar is found as replacements in the fine- 
grained limestones at the Pilloni de Sa Figu workings. 

Pianciano 

The Pianciano deposit consists of soft, pyroclastic 
lacustrine muds and sands deposited in a bedded form as a 
seam at the foot of the Sabatini volcano. The seam is ap- 
proximately horizontal and is relatively undisturbed. The 
deposit lies on a relatively flat base of weathered basalt. The 
top of the seam is irregular with vertical undulations due to 
compaction pressure. The overburden material is relatively 
soft and unconsolidated (22). 

In 1973, on behalf of Soricom, the Bureau de Recher- 
ches Geologiques et Minieres (BRGM) of Paris carried out a 
drilling program exploring 1,000 ha of the property. Based 
on this, BRGM estimates 5.83 million mt of clayey ore and 
9.43 million mt of sandy ore are present. This tonnage is 
considered as identified, with a composite grade of 34 pet 
CaF 2 . Demonstrated resources are given as 5.15 million mt 
of clayey ore and 2.63 million mt of sandy ore with a com- 
posite grade of approximately 43.9 pet CaF 2 (15). 



Mining Methods 

The Mineraria Silius group includes three separate vein 
mines on the same mineralized ore zone 3.5 km in length and 
up to 500 m in width. In order of their development and 
direction from northeast to southwest, these mines are Gen- 
na Tres Montis, Muscadroxiu, and S'Acqua Frida. The Gen- 
na Tres Montis and Muscadroxiu are now joined on the 
lower levels and can be considered a single entity, S'Acqua 
Frida was not operating at the time of the site visit. The 
underground vein mines utilize sublevel stoping with filling, 
and operate at 370,000 mt/yr ore plus 20,000 mt/yr of 
waste. Stope filling allows a reduction in the size of the 
pillars and improves ground support. Major development in- 
cluded driving a belt slope from a loading station, near the 
bottom, to the surface. The belt drifts total about 1,900 m 
and will eliminate practically all ore hoisting. Project com- 
pletion, scheduled for late 1984, will save an estimated 
$0.80/mt. 

Smaller Silius operations and small privately owned 
mines operated by contractors also provide ore to Silius. An 
additional 100 mt/d is available from a small open cut mine 
on the Monreale property,' which was previously worked 
underground by Silius. An additional 45,000 mt/yr from 
these small mines is processed by the Silius flotation plant. 

For Domusnovas, it has been proposed that much of the 
surface ore be dislodged by shallow ripping. Some will have 
to be drilled and blasted. The shape, size, and location of the 
open pits will be ruled by blending decisions. The presence 
or absence of zinc, lead, and barite will also influence the 
location of the pits and the mill. Underground mining could 
take place following depletion of surface resources if further 
drilling proves substantial enough resources. A lead-time of 
5 yr was assumed prior to development and production. 

A strip mine is currently being considered for the Pian- 
ciano operation. This evaluation assumed a development 
lead-time of 4 yr prior to production. In order to insure op- 
timum ore grade and consistent feed head for the mill, 
clayey and sandy ore will be stockpiled separately and 
blended to achieve a grade of 44.04 pet CaF 2 (15). In order to 



keep the ores separate, it has been proposed that a 25-by-25- 
m drilling grid should be maintained six months in advance 
of mining. Both ore types will be selectively extracted to 
avoid unnecessary mixing (22). 

The ore would be ripped with bulldozers, rather than 
blasted, and a truck and loader fleet would be used to ex- 
tract and transport the ore to stockpiles. It has been pro- 
posed that a contractor be hired for mining, but no decisions 
had been made in this area. A mining rate of over 484,000 
mt/yr would be needed to achieve a 75 pet metallurgical 
recovery (22). 

Beneficiation 

Immediately adjacent to the Mineraria Silius mines is a 
heavy media plant that treats about 35 pet of the ore 
hoisted, at a rate of about 750 mt/d. Heavy media tails are 
used to backfill stopes and for road surfacing. The flotation 
mill serving all Silius operations is located in the village of 
Assemini, which is 16 km west of Cagliari and 55 km from 
the mines. 

In the flotation sequence, a lead concentrate is obtained 
before the fluorspar flotation, then a barite concentrate is 
floated from the tailings of the fluorspar section in a 
separate section of the mill. There is a rotary kiln fluorspar 
dryer, two bagging machines, and 50,000 mt of bulk storage 
facilities for the filter cake. Briquetting roll presses are 
available for the metallurgical-grade. Trucking capacity to 
the dock is 2,000 mt/d. 

Annual capacity of the flotation plant is 415,000 mt 
feed, resulting in 125,000 mt acid-grade concentrate and 
25,000 mt metallurgical-grade fluorspar, along with lead 
and barite products. Over half of the acid-grade fluorspar 
(70,000 mt/yr) is exported via the port at Cagliari to 
customers in the United States (mostly to Alcoa, which 
owns an interest in Silius), West Germany (to Bayer, which 
also owns an interest), Norway, Great Britain, Japan, the 
Netherlands, the U.S.S.R., and others. 

Silius-owned subsidiaries, Fluorsid S.p.A. and ICIB 
S.p.A., are located near Cagliari. Between them they con- 
sume 55,000 mt/yr acid-grade fluorspar for production of 
synthetic cryolite and A1F 3 . Lead concentrates are trucked 
to SAMIM's lead smelter in Cagliari, and barite products 
are sold f.o.b. vessel at the port of Cagliari. 

At Domusnovas, only a 1,000-mt test lot has been proc- 
essed through the Silius mill at Assemini; however, there 
were no readily apparent problems in making acid-grade 
fluorspar from the ore. The relatively coarse grind may 
classify it as free-milling. There have been observations that 
some of the sites may be promising for producing 
metallurgical gravel fluorspar high in iron, but Silius has not 
shown an interest in that product. 

Plans to build a mill and develop the mine await a more 
favorable fluorspar market and an improved economy. It is 
feasible that Silius would not build a separate mill at the 
Domusnovas site, but would develop the mine when its other 
operations become depleted and utilize its present mill at 
Assemini. 

Metallurgical research has determined that the Pian- 
ciano ore will be very difficult to treat by flotation into acid- 
grade fluorspar because of the very slimey nature of the ore 
and the various interfering minerals such as barite. Soricom 
is now convinced that a metallurgical-grade product made 
without flotation upgrading is the most feasible alternative 
for this deposit. One product possibility would be a 55-pct 
CaF 2 briquette for use as a flux. Briquetting could be done 
on site. 



48 



Soricom, along with BRGM, developed a unique 
beneficiation process that has subsequently been refined by 
various other parties. "The flowsheet for the BRGM process 
involves an initial feed preparation stage in which the ore is 
slurried and dispersed, followed by a preconcentration stage 
using hydrocyclones and decanters, with a final concentra- 
tion stage in centrifuges. After the centrifugal separation, 
the concentrate pulp is thickened and filter pressed to pro- 
duce a filter cake which is then agglomerated into pellets us- 
ing an extruder prior to drying and calcining" (22). The 
BRGM process has been further improved through pilot 
plant scale tests done in the United Kingdom. 



Infrastructure 

At Domusnovas, water could be a problem, as there is 
no water near the site. It would have to be pumped from 
several kilometers down in old mine shafts, and its reuse 
could present problems if sulfide and barite circuits were in 
use. A powerline extension would also be required, and im- 
provements would be needed to the 5 km of access road as 
well. The proposed acid-grade concentrate could be trucked 
11 km to the nearest rail siding at Murtas or directly to 
Cagliari. From Murtas, concentrates would be railed to the 
loading port at Cagliari for export. 

Metallurgical-grade from the proposed Pianciano opera- 
tion would probably be trucked to the rail siding at Brac- 
ciano, and then either railed to consumers in Italy and 
Europe, or railed 60 km to the port at Civitavecchia for ex- 
port to other parts of the world. 

SPAIN 



distinguish them from other companies' holdings in the 
same district. 

The ore at Gijon is a continuation of the same belt of 
limestone beds paralleling the coast of Asturias and dipping 
seaward towards the Sea of Biscay. This area contains 
many gash veins that were worked from outcrops for many 
years; recently, however, extensive bedded replacement 
deposits have been outlined, and these constitute the major 
source of ore. The ores of the Asturias area contain no 
sulfides or barite. 

Reserves at Minersa deposits are confidential, but for 
this evaluation it was assumed that ore from the Ribadesella 
and Gijon Districts would be sufficient to keep the Torre mill 
operating for more than 20 yr. 

Minas de Orgiva (Minor) 

The sediments of the Orgiva area are considered to be 
Triassic in age and the basic structure of the area is that of 
an anticlinorium composed of three large parallel anticlines. 
Sierra de Lujar ore bodies are located in an east-west moun- 
tain range that had very steep sides due to an overturned 
fold structure. The mining concession extends about 25 km 
along the mountain range, and contains 30 to 40 small 
mines. Fluorspar is found in bedded replacement wings off 
vein-type structures paralleling the strike of the mountain. 
The replacement zones are at limestone-dolomite contacts 
adjacent to faults. 

Drill-proven demonstrated resources total 3.55 million 
mt with an average grade of 31 pet CaF 2 . In addition to the 
in situ resources, 500,000 mt of dump material remains con- 
taining 16 pet CaF 2 and 0.6 pet Pb. The operation closed in 
1983 as a result of labor disputes. It is assumed to have 
resumed production in 1985. 



Geology 



Fluoruros 



Properties held by Fluoruros are located south and east 
of the city of Gijon along an east-west fault zone cutting 
Mesozoic and Tertiary sediments, consisting mainly of 
limestome host rocks, with both bedded ores and veins 
developed. Fluorite replacement deposits in the limestone 
are usually capped with an impervious shale, as is common 
elsewhere in the world where bedded deposits are found, 
such as the Cave-in-Rock District of southern Illinois. The 
beds dip northward toward the Bay of Biscay. In the 
Caravia District, they may actually persist below sea level, 
but exploitation below sea level has not been undertaken to 
date. 

Overall reserves are held as confidential; however, 
Fluoruros intends to continue to develop resources in the 
Collada and Caravia Districts. Recent drilling for the 
Norberto mine in the Caravia District has resulted in prob- 
able reserves of 3.19 million mt averaging 38 pet CaF 2 (20). 
For the purposes of this evaluation, production was as- 
sumed to continue beyond the next 10 yr. 

Minerales y Productos Derivados, S.A. (Minersa) 

Properties operated by Minersa are located in two 
fluorspar districts in Asturias Province in northern Spain. 
These are the Gijon, or Villabona-Arlos District, and the 
Caravia-Berbes District. Minersa's holdings in the Caravia 
District will be referred to as Ribadesella in this report to 



Mining Methods 

Fluoruros operates the San Lino open pit mine in the 
Caravia District and is developing the Norberto room and 
pillar mine in the Eduardo deposit. Contractors load and 
haul ore to the heavy media plant in Espasa. The Norberto 
mine plans to have a production capacity in the range of 
180,000 mt/yr (20). Near Callada, Fluoruros has a series of 
concessions and leases, and operates both an open pit and 
room-and-pillar operation. All ore is hauled to the wash 
plant in Collada. 

Minersa initially operated the Mina Ana and Cueto de 
Laspra as two separace open pits; however, they have been 
mined to the extent that they are now one large pit. Mining 
is done by contractors and is purchased delivered to the 
Torre mill. In the future, underground room-and-pillar 
methods will probably be utilized to exploit the deeper por- 
tions of the resource. These deeper beds will be below sea 
level and may experience salt-water seepage problems. 

In the Gijon area, Minersa employs contractors for min- 
ing. Room-and-pillar methods are used at the two producing 
operations, Moscona and Cucona. Development was under- 
way at Ampliacion Margarita and Laconne, but only ex- 
ploration drilling had taken place at Ampliacion Arlos. Both 
Laconne and Ampliacion Arlos are planned to be under- 
ground extensions of abandoned open pits. 

Minas de Orgiva (Minor) has operated the Sierra de Lu- 
jar mines for lead since 1950, with fluorspar production 
beginning in 1978. The mines utilize room and pillar tech- 
niques. Many of the old rooms are filled with hand-sorted 
waste from the lead mining operations, and this waste often 



49 



has a fluorspar grade high enough to be of interest. There 
are about 70 km of old drifts and two shafts left from 
previous operations that provide natural ventilation. 



United States, Holland, Germany, and Italy. The subacid- 
grade was sold domestically to the ceramic industry, and 
lead concentrates were sold to Penarroya, Minor's partner. 



Beneficiation 

There are three flotation mills in Spain; Fluoruros S.A. 
operates the Pinzales mill; Minersa operates the Ribadesella 
mill, and Minor operated the Orgiva mill, which was tem- 
porarily closed in 1983. 

Fluoruros S.A. 

Ore mined by Fluoruros in the Caravia District is fed 
through the Espasa heavy-media separation plant prior to 
shipment to the flotation mill at Pinzales. A small amount of 
metallurgical gravel is produced at Espasa, but the bulk is a 
middling product which is further processed to acid and 
ceramic-grade products at Pinzales. A grinding plant is 
planned at the Norberto mine (19). 

Collada District ore is sent to a wash plant in Collada, 
which is located central to Fluoruros' holdings. The simple 
plant is used solely to deslime and preconcentrate ore to a 
small extent before shipment to the Pinzales flotation plant. 

The Pinzales flotation mill has a crushing circuit, fol- 
lowed by a grinding circuit and the flotation circuit. The 
acid-grade filter cake is generated by the first cleaner. Con- 
centrates continuing to the second cleaner are cycloned to 
produce acid- and ceramic-grade products to be dried. 

Major consumers of Fluoruros' acid-grade filter cake 
are the United States and the U.S.S.R. Dried acid and 
ceramic products are shipped by rail to consumers in 
Europe, and metallurgical gravel is consumed by steel mills 
in northern Spain. 

Minerales y Productos Derivados S.A. (Minersa) 

Minersa operates the Torre Mill at Ribadesella, 
Asturias, Spain. At the time of the site visit, approximately 
one-third of the ore processed at Torre was from the 
Ribadesella area, and two-thirds was from Gijon. Prior to 
processing ore from Gijon, the mill often processed much 
lower grade ores and a heavy media plant was used to 
upgrade ores as low as 20 pet CaF 2 . Blending ores from both 
districts has raised the feed head to about 33 pet CaF 2 , and 
the heavy media plant is only used if the head drops below 
25 pet. Four ball mills are currently in operation and a fifth 
is available if market conditions improve. About 30 pet of 
the mill's water requirements are supplied by clarified tail- 
ings water; fresh water is supplied from a nearby river. 

If market conditions warrant, Minersa may build 
another flotation mill in the Gijon area, thus avoiding the 
costly 95-km haul to the Torre mill. All products are trucked 
to a railhead or to the Port of Aviles for export. Domestic 
consumption is minor, and most fluorspar is exported to 
U.S. and Western European consumers. 



UNITED KINGDOM 



Geology 



North Pennine Field 



Fluorspar deposits of the Pennines in Northern 
England occur in limestones of Lower Carboniferous age. 
Although the area was developed in the 18th century for its 
lead and iron, it has also been the source of witherite and 
barite as well as fluorspar. The age of the mineralization is 
variable but most of the deposits appear to be of late Car- 
boniferous or early Permian age. 

There are important vein and replacement deposits in 
the Pennine ore field, as well as old mine dumps that are be- 
ing reworked. Reserves of the Cambokeels mine, for exam- 
ple, are mostly stope filling and dump material. Most 
deposits, however, are found in the thin alternating 
limestones, sandstones, and shales of the Yoredale facies, 
and occasionally in the intrusive quartz-dolerite. 

Reserves in the Pennine ore fields are only vaguely 
defined. In general, resources are large because the vein 
systems extend over 640 km 2 of property owned, or con- 
trolled, by Minworth. For this evaluation, resources were 
considered adequate to meet present production levels 
beyond the year 2000. 

South Pennine Field 

The South Pennine Field, or Derbyshire Fluorspar 
District, covers over 500 km 2 of the board axial region of the 
Derbyshire dome. The dome is capped with a Carboniferous 
limestone, flanked by the Millstone Grit series and Lower 
Coal measures, which are rarely mineralized. The principal 
host rock is the Visean limestone series, which is a sequence 
of limestones with interbedded chert and contemporaneous 
volcanics of Carboniferous age. 

The dome is transected by east-west folds, accompanied 
by extensive faulting and jointing. In general, the fluorspar 
occurs as a fissure-filling, vein-type deposit. The main 
systems are called "rakes," and are generally vertical, vary 
in width from 1 to 10 km, and may extend several 
kilometers along strike. 

The veins most commonly contain fluorite, barite, 
calcite, quartz, and galena. There are also some replace- 
ment ore bodies and pipes occurring at intersections of 
faults or joints. Stratigraphic control is important in bedded 
replacements, such as at Matlock, where the bedded 
replacement is in limestone immediately above a lava unit. 

Ore is obtained from underground mines located on the 
Hucklow Edge, Longstone Edge, Long Rake, and Matlock 
area veins; and from open pits at Ashover and on Bonsall 
and Bradwell Moors. 



Minas de Orgiva (Minor) 

Although closed in 1983 due to a labor strike, the mill 
operated by Minor produced an acid-grade concentrate, a 
subacid-grade concentrate, and a lead concentrate. The mill 
stages included crushing, grinding, and flotation circuits. 
Water was supplied from the Rio Gualdalfeo, but reuse was 
not practiced. Acid-grade fluorspar was trucked 35 km from 
the mill to the port at Motril for export to consumers in the 



Mining Methods 

Minworth Ltd. 

Minworth operations utilize sublevel, shrinkage, and 
open stoping techniques. The Blackdene mine is located 
next to the mill of the same name. Haulage from 
underground is limited to three 3-mt cars, because there is 
only room for three dumping bins on the surface. This is 



50 



severely limiting when production rates are at or near 
capacity. The ore is dumped directly into the mill bins and 
supplies about 33 pet of the mill feed. The ore is high grade, 
70 pet to 80 pet CaF 2 , and is used to keep the mill feed above 
40 pet CaF 2 . Whiteheaps supplies another 33 pet of the feed 
for the Blackdene mill with ore grades of 40 to 50 pet CaF 2 . 

The Readburn mine (sometimes called Redvein) has a 
high-grade ore that is used primarily for blending to 
upgrade feed to the mill. This ore is usually stockpiled and 
used sparingly. The remaining ore processed through the 
Blackdene mill is purchased by Minworth from a number of 
tributor dumps in the Blanchard area. Most of the ore from 
this area contains too much lead to be acceptable as 
metallurgical-grade fluorspar. 

The Groverake mine normally is the major supplier of 
ore to the Broadwood mill. It was on standby in 1983 until 
excess stocks were decreased. The Allenshead mine is along 
the famous "Slitt" vein systems, formerly the most impor- 
tant lead-producing area of the United Kingdom. These 
mines contain numerous vertical shafts and mineralized 
structures and large dumps high in fluorspar values. 
Declines are planned to provide access to the reserves under 
the lead mine stope areas. 

The Cambokeels mine provides substantial amounts of 
feed to the Broadwood mill from its old dumps and stope fill- 
ings from abandoned lead mines. New workings are 
developed as shrinkage stopes, and a new decline is being 
developed to penetrate a dolerite sill. 

Laporte Minerals 

Laporte operates an underground mine at Sallet Hole 
on the Longstone Edge vein system. Millstone Grit does not 
cover the limestone in this area, so the structures extend to 
the surface; open pit operations were previously performed 
at these sites. 

The Ladywash operation was placed on temporary care 
and maintenance in 1979 due to deteriorating ground sup- 
port conditions and rising mining costs. Ladywash workings 
are in the Hucklow Edge and Old Edge veins. These veins 
are overlain by Millstone Grit and were mined by sublevel 
open stope methods. Ore was recovered from old stope fill- 
ings and surface dumps from ancient mining operations, but 
remaining resources of these types are too low in grade to 
be commercially recoverable. Major ore reserves do exist to 
the west, in undisturbed Hucklow Edge, and at depth below 
haulage levels. 

Over one-third of the ore supplied to the Cavendish mill 
is produced at Sallet Hole; another 25 pet is produced from 
the Raper Mine on Long Rake, the Masson Mine at Matlock, 
and the presently inactive open pit operations at Ashover 
and on Bonsall and Bradwell Moors. The remaining ore re- 
quirements are met by tributors operating small mines on 
both private and Laporte-owned land. 



Beneficiation 

The Blackdene mill processes about 500 mt/d, and pro- 
duces an acid-grade fluorspar and a lead concentrate. Feed 
grades average 55 to 60 pet CaF 2 and 2 pet Pb. The flotation 
concentrate averages 98.7 pet CaF 2 , with no subgrade mid- 
dling product. A large flash dryer is used prior to storing 
the concentrate in 120-mt tanks. The concentrate may be 
briquetted, if required. 

Ore from the Groverake, Allenshead, and Cambokeels 
mines is processed at the Broadwood flotation mill near 
Frosterly. The mill has a rated capacity of 400 mt/d and pro- 



duces acid- and metallurgical-grade fluorspar concentrates 
and a lead concentrate. Metallurgical gravel is only pro- 
duced when the lead content of the ore is low enough to 
meet requirements of the steel industry. 

After heavy-media separation, the concentrate is fed to 
the ball mill, then to a flotation circuit. When metallurgical 
concentrates are produced, they are recovered after heavy 
media separation. Broadwood's acid-grade concentrate is 
made to meet the specifications of Chemical Industries, Ltd. 
(ICI), its primary customer. Rarely produced metallurgical 
products average 80 pet CaF 2 and are sold to domestic steel 
producers. 

Laporte Minerals 

Laporte operates the Cavendish fluorspar mill near 
Baxewell. Ore is delivered to the 100,000-mt-capacity blend- 
ing yard quite muddy, requiring log-washing prior to 
crushing. After crushing, the plus 40-mesh fraction goes to 
heavy media separation where ore is upgraded to about 35 
pet CaF 2 . The minus 40-mesh material is deslimed in a 
thickener before ball milling. A limestone heavy media tail- 
ing is marketed as a road rock to the Peaks National Park 
Service. 

After conditioning, the pulp proceeds to lead flotation, 
then to fluorspar flotation, and finally to barite flotation. 
Concentrates are filtered, but only fluorspar and barite are 
dried. Bagging equipment is available for the ceramic and 
barite products. 



Infrastructure 

Water for mill facilities is pumped from the shafts of 
deep abandoned lead mines. Laporte has reuse water 
available for operation of the log-washer. Tailings pond 
management is closely watched so that the ponds are out of 
sight of tourists. All mine and mill structures must conform 
to the 18th century architecture of the surrounding village, 
and stone fences must be left intact. 

Transportation 

Acid-grade fluorspar from the Blackdene mill is 
predominantly sold to domestic chemical and ceramic in- 
dustries. Most of the products are consumed by industries in 
metropolitan Newcastle, a distance of 70 km by rail, from 
the siding in Durham. Acid-grade concentrates from the 
Broadwood mill are delivered 350 km by rail from the siding 
at Durham to ICI's Mond Division in Cheshire. The lead con 
centrate is shipped to Antwerp, Belgium, for smelting. 

Fluorspar concentrates from the Cavendish mill are 
delivered throughout England in bulk trucks. Consumers 
are Laporte's own chemical plants in Rotherham and ICI's 
Mond Division, located in Cheshire. Barite products are 
trucked about 250- km to the Newcastle area for use in 
North Sea drilling projects, and the lead concentrates are 
trucked 150 km to the port of Kingston for export to 
smelters in Antwerp, Belgium. The road aggregate is sold 
to the Peaks National Park Service. 

MEXICO 

Geology 

Zaragosa-Rio Verde District 

This evaluation looks at the Las Cuevas, El Realito, and 
El Refugio mines of this district. The principal fluorspar ore 



51 



deposits of the Zaragosa-Rio Verde district are limestone 
replacements along a volcanic intrusive contact, in rough ir- 
regular tabular shapes. At Las Cuevas, they range in size 
from 15 to 40 m in length and roughly 75 to 100 m in width. 
The bottom of this deposit has not yet been determined. 

Mineralization occurred during the major Cenozoic 
volcanism of northern Mexico {34). The Las Cuevas deposit 
lies along the Santa Maria River trend of faulting between 
Lower Cretaceous limestones and Tertiary rhyolite. The 
fluorite replaces limestone and fills the open spaces with on- 
ly minor calcite and silica, which results in an unusually high 
deposit grade. Silica content increases towards the rhyolite 
side. A hydrothermal origin is indicated with volcanic rocks 
being considered as the fluorine source and limestones as 
the calcium source. Other fluorite ore bodies along this same 
trend include La Consentida, El Realito, and El Refugio. 
Each of these was also hosted by the same reef-forming 
Cretaceous limestones in contact with Tertiary volcanic 
rocks. 

The average in situ ore grade for the Las Cuevas 
deposit is about 85 pet CaF 2 with no sulfides or barites 
associated. Demonstrated resources as of 1982 were 
reported as 14.5 million mt using a cutoff grade of 70 pet 
CaF 2 . This cutoff is due to mill headfeed requirements. The 
unusual purity of the fluorspar in the deposit allows crude 
ore to be sold directly as metallurgical-grade after crushing 
and screening to remove fines and oversize lumps {1 T). 

The Las Cuevas mine area contains a limestone surface 
exposure of about 2.5 km 2 , which has been denuded of its 
former rhyolite cap. Much of the remaining concession area 
is covered with rhyolitic volcanics and will require more ex- 
tensive geologic exploration to determine the presence and 
extent of the ore. 

El Refugio mine is in a chimney-type deposit in 
limestone adjacent to a rhyolite contact zone, with 
hydrothermal replacement of the limestone by fluorite, and 
fluorite void filling. For this study, resources at both El 
Refugio and El Realito were assumed to be sufficient to sus- 
tain production through the year 2000. It was also assumed 
that production at El Refugio could resume in 1985 if 
market conditions improve. The average ore grade of the 
two mines is about 75 pet CaF 2 . 

El Realito mines are in three chimney-type limestone 
replacement bodies on the Santa Maria fault zone. The sur- 
rounding wallrock consists of a strong limestone on the 
northeast wall and a weak, shattered and altered rhyolite on 
the southwest wall. El Realito ore body has been the prin- 
cipal source of ore in the past, but 100 m to the northwest is 
the No. 4 ore body, which is partially developed and has 
been mined to the 250-m level. Another 50 m to the north- 
west is the Colonia ore body, which was under development 
in 1983. Nearby, the Los Colorados open pit mine is located 
in another chimney deposit. It is presently closed. 

Minas de Navidad 

The Minas de Navidad (Navidad y Anexas) fluorspar 
properties are located in an area of Tertiary volcanics 
estimated to be more than 1,500 m thick. They originally 
formed an extensive plateau, but the Nazas River and 
tributaries have cut deep valleys and canyons into it, 
resulting in local relief over 450 m. The Mesa de Rincon Col- 
orado, where the major fluorspar veins occur, is a remnant 
of the original plateau. 

The fluorspar veins on the Navidad properties occur as 



several veins in a series of steeply dipping, parallel fault 
fissures in rhyolite. The principal mineral-bearing veins 
form silicified ridges at the top of the mesa, with increasing 
fluorite concentrations at depth. In areas where ore-grade 
fluorspar (50 pet CaF 2 ) is found, veins exhibit strong zoning 
parallel to the vein walls, which are commonly kaolinized 
rhyolite. Good crystalline fluorspar is interspersed with 
friable "sugar spar," with colors of green, purple, and white 
most common. The center of the vein contains the principal 
diluents, including a clay seam with blocks of chert and 
rhyolite, minor calcite, and iron and manganese oxides. 

Demonstrated resources were reported as 750,000 mt 
as of January 1982. Because of the hard nature of the ore, 
drilling is difficult and kept to a minimum. Additional 
resources have been found by cross-cutting on various levels 
and extending exploration drifts along structures and 
faults. The company also holds reserves at the inactive 
Mariposa property near Muzquiz, Coahila. The only mill in 
the Muzquiz area is operated by Fluorita de Mexico, and 
sales of ore to the mill, or tolling it, are not presently attrac- 
tive. 

Sierra de Santa Barbara 

The Sierra de Santa Barbara, situated in the south end 
of the state of Chihuahua, includes the mining districts of 
San Francisco del Oro and Santa Barbara, where Zinc de 
Mexico S.A. operates. The stratigraphy of these districts is 
characterized by a unit of Mesozoic marine sediments 
overlain by a sequence of volcanics and continental 
sediments of Cenozoic age. These rocks are intruded by a 
series of alkalic and mafic dikes. 

The districts are made up of a network of large veins. 
There are presently some 500 km of underground workings 
in the mines. The veins are hydrothermal in origin, in fissure 
fillings, with widths averaging one meter. The most com- 
mon ore minerals are sphalerite, galena, and chalcopyrite. 
The gangue minerals are quartz, calcite, fluorite, and 
various other alteration silicates. In addition to the veins, 
replacement bodies are also found, in which the veins ap- 
pear to have furnished mineralizing fluids that replaced 
chemically favorable strata, such as slightly dolomitized 
calcareous shales (24). 

Resources at Minera San Francisco del Oro S.A. are 
contained in a small amount of old tailings and in ore yet to 
be mined for its metal content. As it is uneconomical in 
narrow-vein mining to block out large reserves in advance, 
the long history of production (since 1629) allows a safe 
assumption that resources are sufficient to supply at least 5 
to 10 more years of production. For this evaluation, 
resources were considered sufficient to continue production 
into the early 1990's. The grade of the tailings processed 
averages just over 13 pet CaF 2 . 

Resources at Zinc de Mexico S.A. are from three major 
sources. These include the remaining flotation tailings at 
Parral, where all mines have become exhausted; substantial 
tailings at the Santa Barbara unit southwest of Parral; and 
fluorspar contained in ore reserves yet to be mined for 
metals at Santa Barbara. If fluorspar market conditions 
warrant, a new fluorspar recovery unit may be activated at 
Santa Barbara. Overall, the Santa Barbara operations could 
supply an identified resource of about 43 million mt of tail- 
ings for reprocessing. Current tailings from the Parral 
operations average 17.5 pet CaF 2 , and for this evaluation it 
was assumed that as of 1982, approximately 3.9 million mt 
of tailings remained from the Parral operations. 



52 



Fluorita de Mexico 

The ore bodies of Fluorita de Mexico are flat-lying 
replacements of limestone underlying the Del Rio Shale. 
Seams of rhyolitic dike rocks lie in the fluorspar beddings in 
some places, indicating a relationship to a volcanic source. 
To date, no diatreme or volcanic pipe has been located to 
confirm this, however. 

The fluorite mantos of northern Coahuila are typically 
elongated, flattened troughs. The tonnage of fluorspar in 
each manto ranges from 1,000 to 8,000 mt; and there are 
hundreds of them, many of which outcrop where they can be 
mined by hand. Ore resources are delineated in two areas: 
Buena Vista, and La Encantada. Another former mining 
area, El Tule, has recently been acquired, but has not 
undergone exploration yet. Demonstrated resources at 
other ore bodies are considered sufficient to maintain pro- 
duction beyond the year 2000. 

Pico de Etereo Mining District 

Fluorspar is the only mineral of economic value found in 
the Pico Etereo mining district; La Domincia S.A. operates 
in this district. Four types of deposits are included in the 
district: karst collapse with limestone breccia replacement, 
of which Cuatro Palmas is the best example; dome collapse, 
such as at Aguachile; arch collapse, found at the recently ex- 
hausted Malabrigo mine; and fracture filling in a breccia 
zone along a fault zone. All replacement deposits are in a 
Cretaceous limestone and closely associated with rhyolite 
intrusive rocks considered to be the source of fluorine- 
bearing fluids. 

The Aguachile deposit is located in a dome collapse 
structure. Rhyolite intruded a Cretaceous limestone forma- 
tion causing a dome, and when the rhyolite subsided, the 
dome collapsed. There was a resurgence of the intrusive ac- 
companied by fluorine-bearing solutions. Fluorine in the 
solutions replaced the limestone breccia where there was an 
impermeable shale capping over the limestone. 

Several new discoveries have been made in the district, 
but these properties are still undeveloped. (The potential for 
discovery of additional deposits is considered favorable.) 
For the purposes of this evaluation, a 1983 demonstrated 
resource of 2.17 million mt has been assumed. The ore 
grades have averaged 80 pet CaF 2 , with 4 pet Si0 2 and 11 
pet CaC0 3 , and the cutoff grade for the resources is 60 pet 
CaF 2 , as that is the mill feed requirement at this time. This 
cutoff grade should be kept in perspective when considering 
the potential for resources at lower grades. The Aguachile 
ore contains minor quantities of beryllium oxide that are not 
recovered, but are stored in the tailings pond as property of 
the Mexican Government. 



Mining Methods 

Historically, a number of Mexico's fluorspar mines 
utilized open pit methods; currently most utilize shrinkage 
stoping or room and pillar techniques. Las Cuevas utilizes 
specially developed shrinkage stoping techniques followed 
by induced caving to recover its relatively weak ore. The 
method involves mining narrow, ore-filled stopes for the 
purpose of establishing lines of large vertical pillars 
throughout the width of the ore body and over a predeter- 
mined length. Narrow, vertical, curtain pillars, extending 
from wall to wall and from level to level, are left between 
the stopes to be recovered later from a lower level. The 
pillars represent about 50 pet of the ore in the stope. Rock 



support is required only in small areas and is usually con- 
trolled with shotcrete. Mine production currently comes 
from the E and G ore bodies, and capacity in early 1982 was 
about 1,920 mt/d of ore and waste hoisted. Expansion plans 
call for a new shaft to service the 280-m level of the G ore 
body. 

Mine production capacity at El Refugio is rated at 650 
mt/d, but current market conditions have recently restricted 
output to 400 mt/d. Penoles temporarily closed the mine 
early in 1984, but for the purposes of this study, a future 
production rate of 400 mt/d was assumed. 

Ore was extracted using post-pillar cut-and-fill mining 
methods. The mine is partially under the Santa Maria River, 
and generates 700 gal/min of water under normal condi- 
tions. More water is generated when the river level is high. 
Three pumps on the 2d and 4th levels, and a gathering pump 
on the 5th level, handle the water, which is discharged into 
the river. Over 60 pet of the water comes from the newly 
opened P-90 ore body, where the water has not been drawn 
down yet. 

Fluorita de Rio Verde utilizes post-pillar cut-and-fill and 
open pit mining methods at the El Realito mines. Produc- 
tion averaged over 155,000 mt/yr between 1980 and 1982. 
Current production rates are somewhat lower because of 
the slow markets, but future capacity is projected at 
192,000 mt/yr. 

The Navidad ore bodies began underground production 
in 1976. Design capacity is 117 mt/d ore and 49 mt/d waste, 
but production has averaged 50,000 mt/yr in recent years. 

Development efforts by Fluorita de Mexico over the 
past few years have been directed toward increasing 
mechanization at the Sabina mine and reducing the 
dependence on ore purchased from contract miners. In the 
past, up to 90 pet of the ore treated at the mill was purchas- 
ed from contract miners. Sabina is developed for room and 
pillar mining and design capacity is 240 mt/d, although this 
rate has never been achieved. 

La Domincia operates two mines in the Pico Etereo 
Mining District. The Cuatro Palmas mine is a cylindrical 
open pit about 100 m in diameter and about 100 m deep, 
with nearly vertical walls. Access is gained by a spiral ramp 
excavated in the limestone wall or in ore where portions of 
the limestone wall were replaced with fluorite. Over 90 pet 
of the ore was benched in open pit fashion from the center of 
the deposit. Side passages have been excavated into the 
manto extensions using room and pillar techniques. 

The Aguachile mine was operated as an open pit from 
1969 until 1981, and was the major source of ore for La Lin- 
da mill. In 1981, underground development was initiated, 
and at the. time of the site visit in 1982, about 30 pet of the 
ore was recovered from the open pit, 60 pet from sublevel 
stoping and driving ramps in ore, and the remaining 10 pet 
was from room and pillar mining. Open pit mining is being 
phased out. 



Tailings Processing 

Minera San Francisco del Oro S.A. 

In 1961, the Minera San Francisco del Oro operation 
was the first in the world to economically produce acid- 
grade fluorspar concentrates from tailings of a sulfide 
beneficiation process that contained less that 15 pet CaF 2 
(2-4). The original flotation plant, built in 1934, was modified 
to recover fluorspar from low grade tailings in 1961 and was 
completely replaced in 1974. 



53 



Table B-8.— Annual production of fluorspar concentrates for 
Las Cuevas, 1975-83 (17,34) 

CaF 2 , mt 

Acid Metallurgical 

1975 66,586 250,580 

1976 77,918 226,157 

1977 88,393 261,113 

1978 119,412 234,426 

1979 143,726 275,071 

1980 158,968 296,186 

1981 186,452 393,843 

1982 173,400 174,901 

1983 156,991 0_ 

The current fluorspar flotation plant at Minera San 
Francisco del Oro has a rated capacity of about 5,000 mt/d 
(£4). Tailings from the sulfide operations and old tailings are 
processed together; the old tailings contain an average zinc 
grade of 1.0 pet. About 700 mt of zinc concentrates are pro- 
duced monthly through a special circuit at the fluorspar 
flotation plant (37). 

Mining at Minera San Francisco de Oro is performed for 
the purpose of recovering lead, zinc, silver, cadmium, and 
gold; all mining costs are borne by the metal concentrates. 
Fluorspar is produced through flotation of the discarded 
sulfide tailings. As of 1982, two mines were in production, 
the Frisco and Clarines, and a small amount of additional 
tailings were available from the sulfide production dating 
back into the 1600's. The old tailings that are processed for 
fluorspar are recovered from tailings ponds with front-end 
loaders and off-road trucks. 

Zinc de Mexico S.A. 

Tailings treated by Zinc de Mexico S.A. are currently 
supplied from impoundments near the old La Prieta mine in 
Parral. Tailings were collected in these impoundments for 
over 50 yr; mining ceased in 1975. The tailings are cut down 
with two hydraulic monitors, then the material is collected 
in pump sumps and pumped directly to thickeners at the ad- 
jacent flotation plant. 

At Zinc de Mexico, the use of repulping by means of the 
hydraulic monitor has proven to be efficient in maintaining a 
constant head feed to the fluorite circuit and maintains a 
constant percentage of solids in the holding tank. Produc- 
tion between 1968 and 1981 averaged 60,000 mt/yr of acid- 
grade and 14,400 mt/yr of ceramic-grade concentrates. As a 
result of the depressed ceramic-grade market, only acid- 
grade concentrates were being produced in 1982. Future 
production rates for acid-grade concentrates are projected 
to be about 74,000 mt/yr. 



Beneficiation 

Acid-grade concentrates are produced with normal 
flotation processes at all eight of the Mexican operations. 
Metallurgical-grade products are generally recovered 
through gravity separation, with some screening and hand- 
sorting for impurities. Metallurgical-grade products are 
shipped from Las Cuevas, El Realito, and Minas de 
Navidad. El Refugio was producing metallurgical- and 
ceramic-grade products up until Penoles temporarily closed 
its Rio Colorado operations in early 1984 (18). Production at 
all facilities has been dwindling over the last few years, a 
result of poor market conditions, and expansion plans have 
been put on the back shelf for the time being. 

Table B-8 lists the annual production for acid- and 
metallurgical-grade fluorspar from Las Cuevas over the 
years 1975-83. Market conditions are readily reflected in 



these numbers. Notice that the dips in metallurgical-grade 
production in 1976 and 1978 correspond with drops in steel 
production during the same periods. The overall decline in 
production since 1981 is a result of oversupply and low 
prices. Production of acid-grade concentrates in 1983 was 
from stockpiled ore; only development ore was mined that 
year (31). 

Adequate water is a problem for Las Cuevas and Minas 
de Navidad. Las Cuevas recently purchased a quarry near 
its mine at Salitrera because a fault that runs through the 
quarry is thought to drain water from the surface. Hopeful- 
ly, drawing water from this fault will help alleviate the 
water constraints (17). During the dry season, Navidad sup- 
plements its normal supplies with three wells drilled 
downstream from its operations; some decanted tailings 
water is also used. 

Penoles management is studying the economics of com- 
bining all milling at the present Alamos Mill operated by 
Fluorita de Rio Verde S.A. This would reduce the haulage 
distance from El Refugio from 70 km to 10 km, allow a 
reduction of personnel through the closure of the Rio Col- 
orado mill, and provide opportunities to produce additional 
metallurgical-grade products from El Refugio ore. Trace 
amounts of arsenic in El Refugio ore may cause problems in 
blending the ores because it is undesirable in certain concen- 
trate applications. 

The Fluorita mill at Muzquiz has an installed capacity of 
1,000 mt/d, but storage and shipping facilities limit the out- 
put to 100,000 mt/yr of dried acid-grade concentrate. Ore is 
blended at the mill yard to about a 1:1 ratio, Sabina ore to 
contractors' ore. The concentrate produced by Fluorita de 
Mexico contains the lowest amount of phosphorus in any 
fluorspar produced in Mexico. 



Transportation 

Fluorspar concentrates are transported by rail to 
domestic destinations, such as the HF plant of Industrias 
Quimicas S.A. in San Luis Potosi (city), and Quimica Fluor 
S.A. de C.V. in Matamoros, Tamaulipas. Concentrates are 
also railed to points of export including the port of Tampico, 
and cities such as Eagle Pass and Brownsville, TX, along 
the U.S. -Mexico border. Table B-9 shows the major 
reported destinations of most fluorspar concentrates leav- 
ing the mills. Metallurgical-grade concentrates exported 
through the port at Tampico are shipped to consumers in 
the United States, Canada, South America, Europe, and 
Japan. 

The port at Tampico is antiquated in comparison to the 
modern, automated port at Durban, South Africa. Loading 
procedures are slow, and since shipments are usually con- 
tracted by time, this can be quite expensive. The metals and 
minerals quay has various types of cranes available, as well 
as a chute and conveyor belt system, and is equipped with 
grabs operated by cranes. The quay is 306 m long and 9.75 
m deep. Modernization of the port facilities would help to 
improve Mexico's position in the world fluorspar market. 

Fluorspar products from Las Cuevas are consumed 
domestically, acid-grade concentrates are consumed by 
Quimica Fluor, and all grades are exported to the United 
States, South America, Europe, Australia, and Japan. 
Penoles trucks acid-, metallurgical-, and ceramic-grade con- 
centrates to storage slabs at Rio Verde, SLP. Filter cake is 
exported through Brownsville, TX, for barge loading or rail- 
ing to various consumers in the United States. Products also 



54 



Table B-9.— Destinations of fluorspar concentrates produced In Mexico 



Mill and city of origin 



Destination 



Mode 



Las Cuevas: San Luis Potosi 



El Realito: Rio Verde 



El Refugio: Rio Verde 



Minas de Navidad: 

Rodeo 

Bermejillo . . . 



Matamoros, Mexico 
Tampico, Mexico . . 
Brownsville, TX. . . . 
Tampico, Mexico . . 
Brownsville, TX. . . . 
Tampico, Mexico . . 
Brownsville, TX. . . . 



Rail 



Bermejillo, Mexico 

Brownsville or El Paso, TX' 



Fluorita de Mexico: Muzquiz 

La Domincia: La Linda 

San Francisco del Oro: Hidalgo del Parral 
Zinc de Mexico: Hidalgo del Parral 



Eagle Pass or Brownsville, TX. 

Marathon, TX 

Matamoros, Mexico 

San Luis Potosi, Mexico 

Point Comfort, TX 



Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 



Truck. 
Rail. 

Do. 
Truck. 
Rail. 
Truck. 

Do. 



'Enters United States through Matamoros, Mexico. 



exported to various steel and HF plants in Canada, Poland, 
and Japan. 

Fluorita de Mexico's acid-grade filter cake is stockpiled 
at the mill and distributed to various consumers. Several 
small companies purchase 250 to 300 mt of bagged concen- 
trates monthly, the remainder is sold through International 
Minerals Co. (IMC) in New York. La Domincia's acid-grade 
fluorspar is trucked to Marathon, TX, where it is purchased 
for DuPont's HF plant in Houston, TX. Two-thirds of Zinc 
de Mexico's acid-grade concentrates are railed to the Alcoa 
aluminum smelter at Point Comfort, TX, and the remainder 
is railed to Industrias Quimicas S.A. at San Luis Potosi, 
Mexico. 



UNITED STATES 



Geology 

The following discussions will divide the U.S. fluorspar 
esources into two categories. The first section deals with 
he geology of domestic properties considered to be 
teserves. These are the six currently producing (develop- 
ag) operations included with the world reserves of this 
tudy. In order to protect individual property confidentiali- 
y, all other domestic fluorspar resources will be briefly 
iscussed in the Resource section. The total amount of 
emonstrated contained fluorspar in all categories is cur- 
sntly recognized as part of the domestic reserve base (33 
lillion mt). 

eserves 

linois 

Four properties are located in the Illinois-Kentucky 
uorspar district. The district is characterized by a north- 
est-trending structural arch that ends near Hicks Dome. A 
r stem of faults crossing the arch from south west to north- 
ist has formed a series of horsts and grabens. The grabens 
e transected by northwest-trending faults and joints, 
icks Dome is transected by northeast faults and a series of 
dial faults on the northwest. Igneous rocks are present in 
e district as dikes, small plugs, and thin sills. Most ore in 
e district occurs as vein or bedded deposits and is 
sociated with joints and faults in Mississippian rocks. 

Mineralization at Henson occurs as a vein deposit 
rmed by fissure filling and replacement of country rock by 
grating hydrothermal solutions. Impermeable shale beds 

overlying rocks limited the upward movement of 



migrating fluids. Joints and faults facilitated fluid move- 
ment. The presence of permeable limestone on at least one 
wall is a typical feature associated with deposits of this type. 
The Denton and Annabell Lee deposits were formed by 
replacement beds of Mississippian age limestone. The 
Bethel Sandstone overlies the limestone. Barnett is also a 
vein-type ore deposit associated with the Rock Creek fault 
system. Two parallel veins are included in this complex. 
Principal ore mineral is fluorite, with barite, sphalerite, and 
galena. Calcite is the principal gangue mineral. 

Nevada 

The Crowell mine is located in a highly faulted part of a 
late Cambrian member of the Nopah Formation. Two faults 
control ore deposition; a northeast-trending fault dips ver- 
tically or steeply eastward, and a northwest-trending fault 
dips gently to the northeast. Ore is more dependent on the 
later set of faults, with ore shoots bounded by gouge zones 
of these faults. The factured dolomite is almost completely 
replaced by fluorite. 

Fluorite mineralization, occurring as hydrothermal 
replacement in dolomite, ranges in thickness from 3.7 to 23 
m, but an estimated 60 pet of the ore is dolomite inclusions 
and barren limestone ribs of various thicknesses. The zone is 
intensely brecciated, but the mineralization is quite uniform 
between inclusions of dolomite. Mine-run ore averages 60 to 
85 pet CaF 2 , and dolomite is the chief gangue mineral. 

Texas 

The Piasano fluorspar deposit is basically a fine-grained 
replacement ore of fluorite in the Buda Limestone. The 
minable occurrences are normally small, 9 to 5,400 mt, and 
occur as veinlets and collapse structures and as replacement 
bodies near rhyolitic intrusion contacts. 

Some of the fluorite is high in uranium with the resul- 
tant radiation indicator of a very dark purple to black color. 
This led to testing that showed the ore to be anomalously 
high in uranium, thorium, molybdenum, and beryllium. The 
underground section, called the Rincon decline, has also 
shown signs of mercury in the form of cinnabar and 
molybdenum in the form of molybdenite and molybdite. 

Resources 

Alaska 

Mineralization at the Lost River deposit occurs in vary- 
ing amounts in acidic dikes. The deposit is in the contact 



55 



metamorphic zone of altered limestone around and overly- 
ing the granite stock. Fluorite, cassiterite, wolframite, and 
beryl are the chief ore minerals. 

Demonstrated resources total 25 million mt averaging 
16 pet CaF 2 . Other metallic minerals present in lesser 
amounts include sheelite, galena, marmatite, chalcopyrite, 
stannite, arsenopyrite, pyrite, molybdenite, stibnite and 
bismuthinite. Gangue minerals include quartz, topaz, tour- 
maline, zinnwaldite, clay, and lime-magnesium silicates. 

Arizona 

The McFadden Peak deposit occurs as a vein in an east- 
west trending fault. Mineralization is known to be con- 
tinuous for over 2,000 m, but due to the narrowness and 
grade of the vein, not all of the ore is of commercial quality. 

The host formation for the fluorspar is the Dripping 
Springs Quartzite, composed of silty, arkosic, and weakly 
metamorphosed sandstones, siltstones, and argillites. Large 
portions of the sandstone have been metamorphosed to 
quartzite by diabase sills. 

Colorado 

Resources in Jackson county (Northgate mill area), and 
Browns Canyon total 3.9 million mt averaging 45 pet CaF 2 . 
The fluorspar deposits in the Northgate mill area consist of 
two separate zones of faulting known as the Fluorine-Camp 
Creek and the Fluorspar Zones. In the Fluorine-Camp 
Creek zone most of the wall rocks are schists and gneisses, 
although granite is present in some wall rock and arkosic 
rocks are found in the Fluorine No. 1 shaft. Deposits along 
the Fluorine-Camp Creek vein are generally wider than 
those on the Fluorspar Vein properties. Widths up to 12 m 
have been mined in the Fluorine Vein property, but the 
average width is generally less than 6 m. 

Fluorite is the principal vein mineral in the Northgate 
area, although small amounts of calcium carbonate, iron, 
and manganese are present. The ore is relatively free of 
sulfides. Silica, in the granite wall rocks and in the form of 
chalcedony or silicified rock, is the most harmful impurity 
found in the ore and is so intimately associated with fluorite 
in some of the ores that satisfactory concentration is dif- 
ficult. The amount of silica varies greatly at the various 
deposits. 

Mineralization at the Crystal mine and Spar Claim 
group is restricted to fractures and faults within the later 
Precambrian quartz monzonite. A total of 48 veins contain- 
ing fluorite mineralization have been mapped on the Spar 
Claim group. For the most part, they are associated with 
Tertiary faults which traverse both the quartz monzonite 
and the gneiss. The presence of chalcedony has been found 
to be a fairly reliable ore guide; fluorite mineralization is 
associated with every known occurrence of chalcendony in 
the Spar claim area. 

At the Browns Canyon deposit, numerous ore bodies oc- 
cur mainly as epithermal veins. The veins usually show 
abrupt slickensided walls with silicification and slight 
fluorspar replacement of wallrock. In some ore bodies, 
fluorspar has extensively replaced fault breccia. Maximum 
thickness of the fluorspar veins is 12.2 m, but the average is 
only 1.7 m. 

Mineralogy of the Browns Canyon veins is predominant- 
ly fluorite and microcrystalline and chalcedonic quartz. 
Minor quantities of coarser grained quartz, opal, calcite, 
barite, . pyrite, marcasite, black manganese oxides 



(pyrolusite, manganite, and psilomelane), iron oxides 
(limonite and hematite), and clay minerals (montmorillonite 
and kaolinite) also occur. 

Idaho 

The major geologic feature in central Idaho is the 
Bayhorse anticline, which trends N 10° W through Garden 
Creek and Daughtery Gulch. The Bayhorse and Kraken Hill 
deposits are located in this area. The principal deposit at 
Kraken Hill is a single fluorspar vein (Cachalot), deposited 
by fluid migration through solution cavities, leaving layered 
encrustations on both sides of the small voids or caves. The 
ore in the Bayhorse deposit was emplaced into the Bayhorse 
Dolomite as an open-space filling of collapse breccia 
features. Fluorite mineralization is widespread, but impor- 
tant mineralization occurs at two principal stratigraphic 
horizons. The ore grade averages 36 pet CaF 2 (38). 

Ore resources for these deposits and Meyer's Cove total 
3.7 million mt. The Myer's Cove deposit, located northwest 
of the Kraken Hill deposit in central Idaho, consists of a 
group of composite massive crystalline fluorite-barite-silica 
vein structures in fracture zones in tuffaceous volcanic 
rocks. Veins are localized along a complex zone of fracturing 
and appear to have been formed in an epithermal environ- 
ment showing some replacement of the surrounding Ter- 
tiary age Challis Volcanics (1, 33). 

Mineral deposition at Meyer's Cove is known to have a 
vertical range of more than 610 m. Coarse- to fine-grained 
quartz veins, containing up to 6 pet CaF 2 , are common in the 
area and often merge with the fluorite veins (33). Mineral 
emplacement appears to have been more complete in areas 
of severe brecciation, where large pore spaces allowed 
enriched solutions to percolate through fractures. Fillings 
show banding and crustification indicative of an epithermal 
environment where deposition took place at shallow depth. 
The deposits are attributed to a deep-seated shear in the 
local basement rocks that allowed mineral bearing solutions 
to rise and be deposited (1). 

Illinois, Kentucky 

Deposits not included as reserves in Illinois and Ken- 
tucky have demonstrated resources over 5.2 million mt with 
fluorspar grades averaging between 20 pet and 30 pet CaF 2 . 
The Minerva and Spivey mines are located in deposits form- 
ed when limestones were replaced selectively by hydrother- 
mal solutions rising along fault and fracture zones. The 
Minerva ore body is tabular and multilevel, reflecting the 
ore occurrence in various replacement zones. The Spivey 
deposit is associated with the complex Goose Creek fault 
system. Both operations were closed in 1982 and were 
allowed to flood when pumping activities ceased in early 
1984. 

A number of fluorspar deposits are located in Crit- 
tenden and Livingston counties of western Kentucky and 
are part of the Illinois-Kentucky fluorspar district. Most are 
vein-type deposits associated with major fault systems such 
as the Babb fault system that extends more than 3.2 km 
across Crittenden and Livingston Counties, and the Tabb 
and Mexico systems- that extend over 56 km across Crit- 
tenden and Caldwell Counties. Mineralization also occurs as 
fissure fillings and minor replacement of brecciated 
fragments and the wall rock. The ore and country rock may 
have been metamorphosed to various degrees. 

Fluorite is the major ore mineral. Sphalerite and galena 



56 



are also present in small amounts. The principal gangue 
mineral is calcite, with minor amounts of quartz and pyrite. 

Nevada 

Fluorite in the Fish Creek deposit occurs in quartzite 
and limestone of Middle and Lower Ordivician age. All Or- 
divician bedrock units in the Fish Creek area are mineraliz- 
ed. Fluorite is the principal ore mineral, with minor 
amounts of beryllium, molybdenite, and scheelite occurring 
in association with quartz and sericite; sphalerite has been 
found at depth. Mineralization occurs in veins, and as brec- 
cia filling and disseminated grains. Demonstrated resources 
are estimated to be 57.8 million mt grading 10.7 pet CaF 2 . 

At the White Pine deposit, fluorspar occurs as 
disseminated grains in silicified limestone and dolomite in 
Cambrian age rocks. A minor amount occurs in veins with 
quartz and feldspar. Trace amounts of copper, lead, zinc, 
silver, molybdenum, and tungsten occur in most of the 
fluorspar-bearing rock. The deposit occurs on the north 
flank of a northeast-trending anticline that appears to be 
plunging northeast. The deposit covers an area 1,100 m long 
and more than 200 m wide; demonstrated resources total 94 
million mt at 10 pet CaF 2 . 

Several small fluorspar deposits in Nye County are in- 
cluded in the Nevada resource, total demonstrated 
resources are approximately 21.2 million mt. The largest of 
these are the Rainbow-Bruno-Nyco deposits which would be 
mined consecutively and utilize one mill. Rainbow and 
Bruno occurs in silicified bleached quartz latite volcanic 
breccia and welded tuff of Tertiary age. The fluorite 
mineralization is also of Tertiary age. Fluorspar occurs in 
steeply dipping veins and disseminated grains in silicified 
breccia and welded tuff. The area around the Nyco deposit 
has been brecciated, faulted, silicified, and pyritized. 
Fluorspar occurs in three veins in the breccia zone. 

The Mammoth and Horseshoe deposits, also located in 
Nye County, occur in silicified limestone and dolomite 
associated with Tertiary rhyolite intrusive bodies. Silicified 
bodies of limestone contain a breccia core with fluorspar as 
a cementing material for breccia fragments. The most abun- 
dant fluorspar occurs in the replacement and banded ore 
bodies. A minor amount of fluorspar occurs in discontinuous 
veins and pods on fault contacts. 

New Mexico 

Three deposits were evaluated in New Mexico, with 
demonstrated resources just under 1 million mt. Bishop's 
Cap is a folded and faulted structure adjacent to the Organ 
Mountains. The rock types in the area are primarily massive 
and thin-bedded limestone, in part cherty, and interbedded 
shale (23). The fault systems contain veins in which some 
fluorspar is present, but fluorspar bodies are narrow and ir- 
regular except in the main vein. The main vein occurs along 
400 m of strike length with an average thickness of 1 m. The 
depth appears to be greater than 100 m. The deposit con- 
tains an estimated 43 pet CaF 2 , 25 pet Si0 2 , 17 pet CaC0 3 , 
and 6 pet BaS0 4 (23). 

The Lyda-K mine produced small tonnages in the 
1920's. Extensive exploration has been performed on the 
deposit, which has been idle since 1976. Fluorspar in the 
Lyda-K deposit occurs in a fault cutting Precambrian 
granite, schist, and gneiss. The fluorspar is found in a 
fissure vein averaging 2.7 m in width. The vein material is 
primarily jasper; it is more resistant than the surrounding 



granite and can be observed on the surface as a dikelike out- 
crop. The Lyda-K fault is offset approximately 38 m. 
Fluorspar occurs only along that part of the fault which is in 
granite. 

The Blanchard fluorspar mine is located in the Hanson- 
burg mining district on the edge of the Rio Grande Rift. 
Lead, silver, and gold were produced sporadically until the 
early 1950's. Fluorspar and barite were discarded with the 
tailings. This region is characterized by a series of normally 
faulted blocks, resulting in down faulting that increases pro- 
gressively toward the center of the graben. These 
topographic lows have been laterally filled with Tertiary to 
Recent sediments derived from the adjacent uplands, as 
well as coincident rhyodacite to andesite volcanics (3). 

Higher grade ore bodies are confined to vertical shear 
zones associated with normal faulting. Preexisting solution 
structures formed in the limestone beds and fracturing 
created during tectonism have resulted in more extensive, 
lower grade mineralized areas. 

Tennessee 

Deposits of the Sweetwater district in eastern Ten- 
nessee occur as stratabound, solution-collapse breccias in 
the Mascot Dolomite and upper Kingsport Formation. Ore 
horizons at the Stephens deposit are equivalent to those 
which host the ore deposits in the East Tennessee zinc 
district to the northeast. Individual ore bodies appear 
tabular in cross section and are connected on different 
stratigraphic levels by pipe-shaped, breakthrough breccia 
ore bodies. The ore bodies were thought to have formed 
from the influx of mineral-bearing fluids that mineralized 
previously brecciated area. Shaft-sinking and drifting 
underground failed to substantiate surface drilling results. 
Consequently, plans for development have been abandoned. 

Fluorite is the major potential ore mineral with small 
amounts of sphalerite present. Barite is also present in 
highly variable amounts. Dolomite is the principal gangue 
mineral, with minor amounts of quartz, calcite, pyrite, mar- 
casite, and galena. 

Utah 

Four deposits in southwestern Utah were investigated 
for fluorspar resources. These included the Blue Bell, 
Cougar Spar, J.B., and Utah properties. All of the deposits 
have produced minor amounts of fluorspar, the last ship- 
ment was from the Blue Bell operation in 1976. The highest 
grade and most accessible ore has already been extracted, 
and additional production is unlikely, except in a period of 
national emergency. The deposits occur in zones of fissured 
and brecciated formations caused by extensive faulting and 
volcanic action during the Tertiary Period. Diorites and 
quartz are common in these fault zones with the mineralized 
areas containing fluorite, quartz, and calcite. 



Mining Methods 

Producing Operations 

The vein and replacement deposits of the Illinois- 
Kentucky fluorspar district utilize shrinkage stoping and 
room-and-pillar methods to extract the ore. Current produc- 
ing operations include Barnett, Henson, and Denton Mines. 
The Annabell Lee came into production late in 1984. Pro- 



57 



duction rates at producing operations range from about 150 
to almost 275 mt/d. Common mine recovery is between 90 
and 95 pet, with ore dilution of 10 to 20 pet. Ore is removed 
by drilling and blasting and is crushed underground. Rock 
bolts and timber are used as needed where ground failure is 
expected. Mine water is not a serious problem, it is gathered 
by gravity to collection sumps and pumped from the mine. 
Some of the water is used for cooling air compressors. After 
hoisting from the shafts, ore is trucked to the Rosiclare mill 
or the Knight Heavy Media plant. 

The Cowell mine in Nevada is developed to a depth of 
about 180 m, and mining is done selectively in open stopes. 
This small operation mines approximatley 4,300 mt/yr ore. 
All ore and waste is drilled and blasted. Timber is required 
only in the shaft and ore chutes. Ore is hand trammed to the 
shaft, where it is loaded on an ore skip for transport to the 
surface. Most of the waste is used as backfill. 

Open pit methods utilizing jackhammers and front end 
loaders to recover blasted ore are used at the Piasano mine 
in Texas. About 1,800 mt/yr ore is mined and hauled to the 
stockpile area for screening. 

Proposed Operations 

Presently idle and undeveloped properties in Kentucky 
have drawn sporadic interest over the years, and at present 
market prices are considered to be marginal resources. Ex- 
treme care would need to be exercised to economically pro- 
duce fluorspar from these deposits. 

The Bureau of Mines evaluation proposed that a number 
of mines be combined around centralized mills located at the 
Babb-Barnes and Marble deposits in Crittenden County, 
KY. Used equipment could provide cost savings, and con- 
secutive mining of deposits would allow headframes and 
equipment to be moved from site to site. This could repre- 
sent a significant savings, as the deposits are small and 
would have mine lives ranging from 1 to 15 yr. Mining 
methods appropriate to the deposit types include shrinkage 
stoping and room and pillar. It was proposed that mines 
serving each mill would have a combined mining rate of 750 
mt/d to provide adequate feed to the mill. 

In other parts of the country developed mines that are 
no longer in production would require various amounts of 
additional development and repair before they could be 
reactivated. Some of them would also require pumping, as 
they have been allowed to fill with water over years of 
disuse. 

Most of the undeveloped domestic deposits evaluated 
were proposed to utilize shrinkage stoping and room-and- 
pillar methods. Several of the near-surface deposits would 
be operated as open pits during the initial stages and later 
as underground mines. Near surface deposits in Nevada 
were proposed as open pit operations. The Fish Creek and 
White Pines deposits would be immense, proposing to mine 
nearly 3 million mt/yr of low-grade ore. Lost River in Alaska 
is another large, near-surface deposit that would be mined 
wholly by open pit methods. Severe weather conditions at 



Lost River will hamper mining efforts, so economics is not 
the only factor affecting the chances of development. 



Beneficiation 

The Rosiclare mill at the southern tip of Illinois is the 
only operation currently producing acid-grade fluorspar 
concentrates in the United States. Inverness Mining is cur- 
rently drying concentrates from South Africa at its Minerva 
mill. Owned and operated by Ozark-Mahoning, Rossiclare 
has a processing capacity of 544 mt/d and receives ore from 
the Barnett, Henson, and Denton Mines. Ore from the An- 
nabell Lee operation is also expected to be processed at 
Rosiclare. The flotation mill produces acid-grade fluorspar, 
barite, lead, and zinc concentrates. The acid-grade concen- 
trate is sold f.o.b. mill, as is the barite. Lead concentrates 
are smelted and refined domestically, as are most of the zinc 
concentrates. However, some zinc concentrates are shipped 
to Belgium for smelting. 

Coarse material from the Henson mine is trucked to the 
Knight Heavy Media plant for concentration. Approximate- 
ly 60 pet of the ore from Henson is processed to 
metallurgical-grade fluorspar and road rock. The remaining 
40 pet (fines) is trucked to the Rosiclare mill for processing. 

Ore from the Crowell mine in Nevada is sized and sold 
as run-of-mine ore to a nearby cement company. Bailey 
Fluorspar Co. purchases screened run-of-mine ore from the 
Piasano Mine in Texas. 

The proposed Kentucky operations could utilize the ex- 
isting Babb-Barnes mill, which was closed as a result of 
technical and economic problems in 1978. The mill would 
need to be redesigned, but capital expenditures would be 
much less than for building a completely new facility. A 
flotation mill near Mexico, KY was closed in 1973 as a result 
of ore depletion, and this facility could be refurbished and 
utilized for the deposits in the Marble area. Estimates sug- 
gest both mills would need to process an average of 750 
mt/d ore to economically produce acid-grade concentrates. 
Small amounts of metallurgical-grade fluorspar, as well as 
barite, lead, and zinc, would also be produced. 

The Northgate mill in Colorado is presently idle, but is 
largely intact. The facility could be reactivated if needed, or 
moved to a new location, a more likely consideration. Other 
acid-grade flotation facilities that are no longer active have 
been scavenged or left in disrepair and are really not 
available for production. 

The Bureau of Mines has been testing new methods of 
flotation processing on ore from several of the Western 
fluorspar deposits. A new column method of flotation ap- 
pears to be successful in producing acid-grade concentrates 
and byproduct beryllium from ores of the Fish Creek 
deposit in Nevada, and possibly could be used to produce a 
metallurigical-grade product from the Bayhorse ores (11). 
Transportation costs could keep these particular deposits 
from being exploited, but perhaps the new flotation 
technology will benefit other operations. 



* U.S. Government Printing Office: 1986—497-220 



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